Desert Shade
by tHeEviLjOkEr
Summary: When a jinchuriki girl graduates from Konoha's academy, and takes part in the chuunin exam, what happens when she meets someone whom she made a promise to, but was unable to keep it? But he doesn't recognise her. Is that good or bad? On temporary hiatus-Refer to my profile for details
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**I've been wanting to write a naruto fanfic for some time now, and only just managed to get it up. So, here it is. The characters in this story will be a little bit older than in the manga/anime.**

**Disclaimer: Do I look like I own Naruto? If i did, well, good luck Sakura (translation: I'm gonna kill you. Sorry to all those who like this girl)**

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Prologue: Character Profiles

(A/N: This applies only from chapter 2 onwards, prologue not counted.)

Name: Yoruka Chizuki

Gender: Female

Age: 13 when graduating, 14 when taking the chuunin exams

Height: 160cm

Team mates: Moriten Hanaha and Ryuusei Akirai

Abilities: Shadow-manipulation. Wielder of darkness. Chakra-paper artist.

Occupation: Genin

Alliance: Suna and Konoha

Other notes: Jinchuriki of the kage-jyuubi (shadow of the former ten-tailed demon)

Strength: Wind and Nighttime

Weakness: Water (it wets the paper) and Suna's noontime (no shadow to use)

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Name: Moriten Hanaha

Gender: Female

Age: 13 when graduating, 14 when taking the chuunin exams

Height: 165cm

Team mates: Yoruka Chizuki and Ryuusei Akirai

Abilities: Earth Element, Demonic Plants (this includes thorny roses, venus flytrap, leeching mistletoe, strangler fig etc)

Occupation: Genin

Alliance: Konoha and Iwa

Other notes: Uses sunlight as a source of chakra for herself

Strength: Sun and rain (plenty of both, not just one)

Weakness: Fire and Death

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Name: Ryuusei Akirai

Gender: Female

Age: 13 when graduating, 14 when taking the chuunin exams

Height: 156cm

Team mates: Yoruka Chizuki and Moriten Hanaha

Abilities: Fire and Lightning wielder, hands of destruction (similar to the Hyuuga's abilities, but more diverse e.g taking Kankuro's puppets apart within seconds)

Occupation: Genin

Alliance: Konoha and Kumo

Other notes: Unadvisable to let her have anything you want to keep intact

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Name: Yami

Gender: Female

Age: Centuries old

Host: Yoruka Chizuki

Race: Ten-tailed Demon

Origin: Shadow of the jyuubi

Alliance: Her host

Abilities: Illusion, Nightmare (similar to Sharigan), Shadow-manipulation, telepathy

Strength: The dark, especially at night. Full moon.

Weakness: Noontime sun especially in Suna


	2. Chapter 2: Night Fire

**Here's the first chapter. Enjoy. XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, I'd have Sasuke kill Sakura and Naruto fall for some one better.**

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Chapter 1: Night Fire

_"A good friend stops you from doing stupid things; your best friend stops you from doing stupid things alone."_

Pain. A sting. A flash of black as I tried to dodge a kunai, but ended with a small cut on my cheeks anyways. Spinning around, I saw that Mizuki bastard crouching on a tree branch behind me. I swore. Where on earth was Naruto? I let my senses flow into the shadows around me while dodging a giant shuriken and picked up Naruto's chakra somewhere off ahead. Now where was Iruka-sensei? He was somewhere behind Mizuki.

When the two of them interlocked in battle, I used the distraction and slipped off to find Naruto. He was now somewhere towards my right…wait a minute, don't tell me he was planning to creep behind sensei and Mizuki? Swearing again, I turned back towards the fight. I should at least help sensei since we were the ones—correction, _Naruto_ was the one—who got him into this mess of ours, and Naruto was heading in the same direction anyways.

**And you're making everything more complicated than it should be,** muttered Yami in my head.

… _You're just hungry aren't you?_ Stupid question. Of course she was hungry, I could practically feel her bloodlust pouring through my veins. Yami was hungry most of the time, and I enjoyed starving her. Okay, so maybe I don't, but I wasn't about to just let her go around devouring every living creature she sees.

**Haixx… **she grumbled, disgruntled with my refusal to feed her supper. Ignoring her, I focused on the situation at hand in time to witness Mizuki proclaiming to Naruto that he (referring to Naruto) was the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. Big surprise there, since Yami had informed me of his existence within Naruto the first time I met him (which was three years ago when I moved into Konoha and joined the academy, albeit later than the others of my age but managed to catch up easily). Besides, Kyuubi would sometimes 'pop-in' and have a mental conversation with Yami, whenever Naruto and I hung out together. In my head. This was due to Yami's shadow-psychic-abilities. However, I believe this was the first time that Naruto hears of this, so his shock was unsurprising either. I could also tell that Iruka-sensei was dismayed by this revelation.

**Well this has been kept a secret amongst the adults from Naruto all the while. Who knows how he might react when he hears of this.** Pandemonium ensued and Mizuki sent a giant shuriken flying towards Naruto. Instinctively, I ran forwards, yelling Naruto's name, but Iruka-sensei was faster. Blood splattered and its bittersweet scent filled the air. I hissed. Naruto was lying on the ground, shocked, but unharmed, while sensei was crouched protectively over Naruto, the large shuriken protruding out of his back, stained red with his blood. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit.

"You #!%$^&*! (A/N: I'll leave it to your imagination as to what vulgarities she said.)" Cursing away, I leapt out of the shadows with four dark clones (similar to shadow clones, but somewhat different), charging at Mizuki with kunais in hand. I wasn't about to let Yami have her way with this bastard. I was going to beat him up with my own hands. How dare he hurt Iruka-sensei like that! I heard Iruka-sensei's protest against something, then saw Naruto running beside me and surprise surprise: there were at least eight shadow clones with him. Looks like studying the scroll we stole paid off. That, and of course, his massive amount of chakra.

"TAKE THIS!" we yelled, as we attacked Mizuki full on.

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"YEAH! I PASSED!" screamed Naruto when Iruka-sensei finally gave him this forehead protector, and continued whooping for joy even as we entered the classroom to find out who our teammates and new sensei will be. I grinned and in truth, I did not regret last night's incident. It was what enabled Naruto to become a genin after all. And Mizuki has been imprisoned. Unfortunately, not everyone believed that he actually passed. And honestly, who could blame them?

**And once you're done musing to yourself, check this out,** Yami said. Looking up, I saw (OMFG!) Naruto and Sasuke almost lip to lip. No freakin' way. They were like archrivals and they were both guys. Poor Naruto. When the teacher entered the classroom and got the class to settle down (which was no easy feat, what with Sakura and Ino going up in flames etc), he began to announce the grouping of squads and the sensei assigned to that squad.

"Uzumaki Naruto… Haruno Sakura… " The guy said. Naruto was elated while Sakura went into a state of depression. Idiot Sasuke fan-girl.

"… And Uchiha Sasuke," he continued saying. This time, Naruto's face fell while Sakura lit up in an instant. Sasuke merely grunted. Apparently, they were in the same team to balance out their intelligence (basically, it means that Sasuke was a genius and Naruto an idiot.) My train of thought was once again interrupted by the guy's speech.

"Yoruka Chizuki… Moriten Hanaha... and Ryuusei Akirai." That was my name, and my two best friends'. Sure, they once tried to kill me (literally) the first time we met, but that was another story. Otherwise, we get along fine. We were all "half-breeds", one parent from Konoha, the other from some other country, and now we were going to be in the same team!

As soon as we were dismissed, Aki-chan leapt up and did a victory dance which included overturning tables and chairs in the process. Her hyperactive personality reminded me somewhat of Naruto, and like Naruto, it was going to be ages before anyone could get her to calm down. I sighed. Maybe she wasn't as bad as Sakura and Ino when they get the Sasuke-fever, but as Shikamaru likes to say, she's way too troublesome to deal with sometimes.

"So who's our new teacher?" asked Hana-chan, evidently ignoring our destructive friend in the background.

"You weren't listening either? Damn," I muttered in reply. I'd tuned out the rest of what the jounin had said after he announced our squad team members, and totally missed what he said about our teacher.

_Did you hear anything said about our to-be sensei?_ Last resort: ask my demon guest.

**Hmph. That I did,** grumbled Yami irritably. She didn't like it whenever I fail to keep track of stuff myself.

_And?_ Sometimes, getting her to give me information is like squeezing toothpaste.

**Nothing. You guys don't have a teacher. They ran out of jounins. Some are already in charge of other squads, while the rest are on missions.**

_Are you serious? That's impossible! How can there be a genin squad without an instructor?_

**Too bad. You guys'll be working with other squads and their teacher, a different one each week. **

_So who's in charge of us tomorrow?_

**Hatake Kakashi. You'll be working with that Uchiha brat, Pinkie and Kyuubi-kun.** So, Mr Emo-chicken-butt-head, Sakura-chan, and Naruto, eh? All in all, not too bad… I think… _Wait a minute, are you and the Kyuubi an item or what?_

**How the bloody hell did you get that idea? **Yami practically roared inside my head.

_I don't know. Maybe its because you chat with him so much? And you just called Naruto 'Kyuubi-kun'? _A whole string of vulgarities flooded my mind following that. It was no wonder my language was sometimes more colourful than most. Hell, I could write an entire dictionary of them, just that some were in other languages (e.g. cat-speech. Is there such a thing? Hmm.)

"Sooo… what did the little monster say?" enquired Aki-chan who had finally stopped her victory dance when it occurred to her as well that we had no clue who our teacher might be.

"We're gonna be thrown around like an unwanted shitload of dung beetles and Kami take pity on the squad that ends up having to train with us," I replied, ignoring Yami (which was no mean feat. She was now yelling at the back of my head something about being the 'an ancient demon deserving of respect', calling Aki-chan a 'puny human' and cursing her for calling her 'little'.)

"Unwanted shitload of dung beetles?"

"That's right." Hey, spending the last 13 years of your own existence with the demon of illusions and nightmares does wonders to your definitions and descriptions of many things. Not counting weird imagination.

I found Naruto having ramen at his usual ramen stall. Yami promptly pounced on top of Naruto's head as soon we reached within one metre of him, causing him to choke on his soup. She laughed at the sight of Naruto spluttering soup as she perched atop his head the way Akamaru does with Kiba, her bell tinkling with her every movement. Whenever she appeared in her coporeal form, she was like an inky grey shadow with a black diamond printed on her forehead (somewhat like the pattern of a diamond-backed rattlesnake) and a blood red collar. Attached to the collar was a large golden bell by a long silver chain. Even though she resembled an alley cat most of the time, and could easily pass as my animal companion (or pet), she still creeped out some people.

"What the heck? You scared me you know?" cried Naruto when Yami leapt onto the table from his head. She stared back at him with her unblinking mismatched eyes. One blood red (the colour of her collar), the other the colour of blue flames, her iris-less pupils glowed amidst the shadows of her hollow eyes (basically, where the whites should be, was just black. A/N: I got the idea from Bleach's white Ichigo.) No wonder she looked more sinister than your ordinary stray cat. Most of my friends (i.e. Hanaha, Akirai, Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba) and some adults (the ramen stall owner, Iruka-sensei, the Hokage) are quite used to it though, but only the adults know about Yami's real identity as the jyuubi, with the exception of Hana-chan and Aki-chan.

**Wimp. At this rate, Pinkie will never set her eyes on you. Though personally, you're much better than that Uchiha brat,** said Yami (when she's coporeal, her voice can be heard by all, not just me.)

"And he's in my team!" complained Naruto at the mention of Sasuke. I felt sorry for him. Problem is, I was going to have to work with Chicken-ass too.

"Look on the bright side, bud. At least Sakura's in your team. Hell, you should be glad you have a team at all!" Personally, I found Sakura even more irritating than Sasuke, but Naruto, on the other hand, saw something in that girl. And trust me, with Yami around; I saw more things than most, especially when it comes to the characters of people. Yami thrived on the fears and negative energies of others. You can imagine how much positive energy I wasted just to keep my mind from being _fully_ influenced by her sadistic ideas (note the emphasis on the word 'fully'.)

"Hehe," chuckled Naruto sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. "Guess you're right. Hey, let's celebrate with some ramen!"

Well, there goes my money down the drain, or in this case, Yami's bottom-less stomach. When she can't have a fair share of humans (blood, meat, soul and all), she'd lick six bowls clean of ramen like a vacuum. At least I'll get some money back from completing missions in days to come. No doubt Naruto was looking forward to it too.

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**Please Review! XD**


	3. Chapter 3: Team Kakashi

**Here's chapter 2. Hope you guys like it! XD NOte: Gaara doesn't appear until the Chuunin exams.**

**Disclaimer: Do I seem like I own Naruto to you?**

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Chapter 2: Team Kakashi

_"It would be interesting to find out what goes on in the moment when someone looks at you and draws all sorts of conclusions."_

The next morning, Hana-chan, Aki-chan, Naruto and I went to the appointed meeting place together. Sasuke was already there, and Sakura arrived a few minutes later. However, their teacher did not seem to have any desire to arrive at all. After some time, Naruto and Aki-chan got so restless that they constructed a trap for the later-than-late teacher, which basically involved the duster toppling onto the teacher's head as soon as he enters the room. It seemed like the only things Aki-chan could ever create were destructive in nature.

"Idiot. As if a jounin would ever fall for such a simple trap," said Sasuke. Much as I hated to admit, he had a point. Then again, Akirai had a talent for this sort of thing and if she decides that there is no need for a more elaborate trap (i.e. explosive paper etc) then she's usually right. True enough, when Kakashi-sensei walked in moments later, the duster hit him right on the head.

"Ahahaha!" laughed Naruto. "You fell for it!"

Meanwhile, Sakura said something like she tried to stop Naruto. Yami's inner sight found Sakura mentally rejoicing though. Sasuke looked like he was having doubts about the teacher.

"Hmm… how should I say this…? My first impression of you guys is…" he paused for effect. "I don't like you guys." A cloud of depression hung overhead.

Once we had settled down, Kakashi-sensei looked at the three of us (meaning Aki-chan, Hana-chan and I) for quite a while until I got really creeped out. Actually, no. But I would have had I been a normal person.

"Well, since your group is unlucky enough to lack a teacher, you'll be working with us for this week. You'll be training and doing the same things as my team throughout this week. Is that clear?" he said from behind his mask.

"Hai!" we chorused. He narrowed his eye at our too-innocent-obedient tone of voice. We grinned back. He sighed, muttered something too low for us to hear, but not low enough for Yami's ears. According to her, it was something along the lines of problems when an entire squad consists only of females.

"Okay, let's begin with some intoductions," he started, now facing all six of us genins. "How about your likes, dislikes, dreams and hobbies… stuff like that?"

"Hey hey, why don't you introduce yourself first?" yelled Naruto and Aki-chan together, followed by a string of 'jinxes'.

"Yeah, you look really suspicious…" Sakura and Hanaha agreed, then glared at each other. Suspicious huh? Other than his silver defy-gravity hair, covered left eye and face mask, he seemed quite ordinary (then again, maybe my defination of ordinary needed serious checking. Afterall, I consider killer-birthday-presents from my mother ordinary too.) I glanced at his shadow.

**Ordinary? Ha! He's Hatake Kakashi for hell's sake! He's strong alright, plus he has the sharingan, just like that Uchiha brat. Quite a good ninja, but not my taste. **

_Not your taste? That's good. At least I can be sure you won't have my teacher for lunch anytime soon, _I muttered (mentally of course. I don't want to be sent to the asylum just yet you know) back. Sharingan? Wasn't that a bloodline limit thing? How did he get it? Was that his hidden left eye? I filed those questions in my head and returned my attention to his answer.

"Oh me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmm… Well, I have lots of hobbies…"

In the end, we learned nothing about him. Except me, of course.

**One of his hobbies include reading perverted comics ya know. **I blinked. Perverted comics?

_You've been stalking him haven't you? _It was to be expected from a shadow demon.

"Now its your turn, starting from the right," Kakashi-sensei said. Naruto looked up eagerly.

"Me! Me! My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like cup raman. What I like even more is the restaurant ramen Iruke-sensei buys me. What I dislike is waiting 3 minutes for the cup ramen to cook," cried Naruto. I couldn't help but laugh at his string of ramen-fandom and Kakashi's expression in response to the string of ramen-ness. "My dream… is to surpass the Hokage! And then have all the people of this village acknowledge my existence! Hobbies… Pranks I guess."

**Awesome dream he's got there. He's got the potential, **Yami noted. And she of all would know that, being a shadow demon that's been around for centuries, observing the rise and falls of our past leaders.

Next was Chicken-ass head and in his usual emo way, he intorduced himself, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike, but I don't really like anything. And… I don't want to use the word 'dream' but… my ambition is the resurrection of my clan and… to kill a certain man."

**Usual emo-ness, eh? I like that though. He'll be tasty when he's properly season. Probably when he's killed his elder brother. **

… _Right. _By then, I was half-immune to Yami's food-wise criticism. Sakura was next.

"I'm Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is… Um… Should I say my dream for the future…? Well, the person I like is… OH MY!" she started out blushing and ended with a fangirl scream. It was pretty obvious what, or rather, who she had been thinking about. She continued on, "The thing I dislike is… Naruto! My hobby is…*blush even more*"

**Poor kid. **Yami muttered.

_Who are you refering to? Naruto or Sakura?_

**Both. But Kyuubi-kun more. **Right. Of course.

"My name is Moriten Hanaha." Oh, Hana-chan has started. "I like… cannibalistic plants, I dislike… cherry blossoms. My dreams… hehehehe(evil chuckling)… My hobbies… sparring? Chess? Most of all, impaling stuff."

**Poor kid… This time, I meant Pinkie. **I found my face twitching at her comment, or rather, her evident need to do a running commentary on everyone's introduction. I was gonna get a headache listening to her chatter at this rate.

"My name is Ryuusei Akirai!" yelled Aki-chan. Kakashi-sensei seemed exasperated at having a second 'Naruto' under his teaching. "I like… candy, and dislike people who denies me candy! My dreams… MUAHAHAHAHA! My hobbies… pranks and destroying stuff!" As I have mentioned before, I pity the team who have to put up with us for a week.

**Yay for the kid! Your little friends sure know what sadism really is, **Yami said, approvingly.

_WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP!_

Aloud, I said it all in one breath, "Ilikechocolates, .Ienjoygivingpeoplenightmares ,reading,sleeping,and ."

Kakashi-sensei just stared. Sakura's jaw dropped. Naruto looked as if he didn't even catch what I said in the first place. Sasuke? He just looked like his usual emo self.

"Okaay. Enough of that. We'll be starting our duties tomorrow—" Kakashi-sensei was interupted by a unified yell of "YAY! Duties! Duties! What kinds of duties!" from Naruto and Aki-chan. He was silent for a moment before replying, "First we are going to do something with just the seven of us."

"What! What!" said Naruto and Aki-chan in eager unison.

"Survival training and I'll be your opponent. This isn't normal training though..."

Team Kakashi gave him questioning looks while we exchanged horrified glances. Survival training sounded highly suspicious. As if he was proving our point, Kakashi-sensei chose that moment to chuckle.

"This training is a super difficult exam with a failure rate of over 66%! Of the 30 graduates, only 12 will be chosen as Genin," Kakashi-sensei explained. Naruto's expression of shock was priceless, Sakura looked like this: =_=lll and Sasuke… need I say more?

"What the hell? But we worked so hard… Then what was the point of graduating?" exclaimed Naruto.

"Oh… That? That's just to select those that have the chance to become Genin," replied Kakashi-sensei in his annoyingly calm voice. "Anyways, tomorrow you will be graded on the training field. Bring all your Shinobi tools. Oh, and skip breakfast. You'll throw up."

**Throw up? Ha! **_**That**_** sounds highly suspicious! **I quickly relayed the message to my teammates. When it came to a person's motives, Yami was the expert. To be on the safe side, we decided to bring breakfast along. Just in case.

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**So, how did you guys find this chapter? Please review! Compliments, advice, tips and critisism are all welcomed! **

**Next chapter will take some time to arrive, 'cuz I'm working on a Bleach Fanfic as well.**


	4. Chapter 4: Memory I

**Here's another chapter, a memory of Chizuki's past. I'll insert a memory after every now and then. Note: Its a memory, _not _****a flashback nor a dream. Hope you like the plot so far. The story will continue in the next chapter. **

Disclaimer: I reaally wish I owned Naruto, buut sadly, I do not. Only the OCs and part of the plot.

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Memory I: Mistake

"You don't have to be near death to know... what life is all about-but maybe it helps."

_Dark bruise-coloured clouds rolled across the sky, edges tinted pink by the eerie light of the blood red full moon; the stormy waves that crashed along the side of the wooden structure roared along with the thunder. The air was charged and crackled with electricity… murderous intent and fear. Huddled and wrapped in the arms of my mother, I was silent, uncomprehending the situation. We had left home in the morning, and set off towards the cloud village in a hurry, only to be ambushed by a group of shinobi from an unknown village. I was only two then, and did not understand the reason for the scent of fear from my mother, nor the reason for the bittersweet taste of blood in the air. _

_Salty droplets of water splashed onto my face as I lay there in her arms, but it was not rain. What was it? I was curious but sleepy, the rhythm of her feet pattering on the wooden floor and the heaving of her panting chest was oddly hypnotising. But Mother never allowed me to sleep. I never questioned her why. Where was Dad? Why did he stay behind? Why did Mother leave him behind? I had seen Them, the hunters, stab him with something black and gleaming, and blood had spurted out. He had failed to move after that. _

_**He's dead, Kurai-ko **_(A/N: dark-child in Japanese)_**. He tried to give your mother more time to escape by taking Them on, **__Yami explained to me, the meaning in her words clearer than the words itself. __**Not like that would help a bit though. They're already catching up.**_

_But I still did not understand why They were after us, or why we had to flee. It was all so confusing.__Yami was evidently enjoying the whole thing though. I could feel her thriving on the negative energy, the fear and the bloodlust in the air. _

_**Hehe. They're after you. Well, not you, but me. They're after the Ni-bi, and they think I'm the Ni-bi. Fools.**_

_A hysterical scream tore the air. It was from my mother. They had descended upon us, weapons gleaming. It was obvious that they weren't the blunt kind I played with at home. Sobbing, Mother uttered a long string of words, barely coherent to Them, but totally impossible for me to understand. The shinobi laughed, maniacally._

_**She's given up, **__Yami translated for me, a snarl in her mental voice. __**She's offering you to Them, asking Them to take you but spare her life. Selfish bitch, abandoning the child she was supposed to protect. Even Shukaku ain't such a coward, and **_**he's **_**one selfish demon.**_

_I blinked, even more confused. What was going on? Why Mother, why? It did not matter in the end. The shinobi stabbed her as they had stabbed Father, and her blood sprayed like a fountain. I was dropped unmercifully onto the ground, but the impact was soften by the shadows Yami wielded. Then Mother screamed out another string of words, spitting them out like curses, words that registered in my head with sharp clarity. I did not need Yami to explain them to me, the meaning was painfully clear._

"_Damn you! This is all your fault! All your fault! You should have never been born! Your existence is a crime we should have never committed! You're our biggest mistake! A BIG MISTAKE!" Mother cried into the night, before a huge wave towered over us, and swept her away. _

_Wet and shivering cold, for once during the entire night, I was terrified. Terrified of the howling wind and waves. But then, a thick coil of darkness wrapped around me and lifted me away from the waves and towards dry land. The shinobis were equally wet, but definitely alive and murderous. But before any of them could even lift their weapons, a stream of darkness shot out towards them and sent them flying. Some scrambled and ran, hunter-turned-prey, the others, not so fortunate, were either thrown into the swelling sea, or devoured by Yami who was now in her coporeal form. It was understandable how They had mistaken her for the Ni-bi, as she usually took the form of a dark nekomata when coporeal as she did now, her two visible tails whipping through the air like writhing shadows. _

_**Looks like it's just you and me now. Eh, Kurai-ko? **__Yami nuzzled me with her bloodstained snout, before lifting me onto her back and carried me off into the night._

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**My exams are coming up, so the next chapter may take some time to come up. I need to study like everyone else too, you know. Anyways, all reviews are greatly welcomed, so please review! **


	5. Chapter 5: Survival Test

**In compensation for the previous very late upload, here's another chapter! Please Review!**

**Disclaimer: *go check the previous chapters if you really want to see one***

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Chapter 3: Survival Test

_"If you're willing to fail interestingly, you tend to succeed interestingly."_

"WHAT?" cried Naruto is disbelief. Sasuke and Sakura's expressions were not too different either. Kakashi-sensei had just given us the details of our test: There will be four bells, two for each team. Our goal was to get one of the bells from him, which means that it was inevitable that at least two of us would fail the test. There was another catch: lunch will only be provided for the four who pass; the other two will be tied to a post and go hungry. That would probably be the real reason he'd asked us not to have breakfast that morning, not the stupid excuse he gave us the day before. That would pretty much also explain why the other team are now in dismay. We exchanged glances. Thank goodness we had enough sense to bring our breakfasts along.

"If there are no more questions, the test shall begin… starting from now," said Kakashi-sensei. All of us immediately went into hiding, each planning on how to steal the bells from him. Well, all of us except Naruto. He leapt towards Kakashi-sensei who caught him easily (while reading a book too!) and received a 'taijutsu' known as 'thousand years of pain'. Ouch. Though I was a pretty sadistic person, I was not _that _sadistic. (If you dare hurt my friends, I'm sure to make YOU suffer. Muahahahaha.)

**Hey! That's a perverted book written by that perverted toad! **Yami suddenly yelled. I winced. _Perverted toad?_

**Otherwise known as Jiraiya, the toad-sage, one of the three legendary sannin.**

_And you just called him a perverted toad?_Then again, I shouldn't have been so surprised at her lack of respect.

**Hmph. Respect for Tsunade, maybe. Respect for either the perverted toad or that paedophilic snake, definitely not.**

_Who's Tsunade? Who's a paedophilic snake?_

**The other two sannins, you baka! Tsunade's the slug lady and the paedophile's Orochimaru. Not that you know either one anyways.**

_I'm a thirteen-year-old-girl! Not some century-old know-it-all demon you know…_

"Chizuki!" Someone yelled-whisper at me. I turned to see Aki-chan glaring at me. "For once could you please pay attention and stop spacing out? We're in the middle of a survival test!"

"Never mind…" muttered Hana-chan. "At least you're now back from la-la-land. In case you've failed to notice, all the others have moved from their places and gone somewhere else. We've gotta go find them."

"Oh. Right. Gomen," I muttered back, a mite bit sheepish. _And of course you couldn't be bothered to inform me, now could you? Sheesh. Where are they now?_

**You should observe your surroundings yourself, **Yami replied with a huff. **Uchiha's head is sticking out of the ground. Pinkie is hysterical, somewhere near the Uchiha brat. Kakashi is-**

_Oh, forget it! You're exasperating._

"Let's just have breakfast first, shall we? Meanwhile, we can plan this properly before going after them," I said to my other teammates. Aki-chan immediately brightened at the thought of food. A gigantic pitcher plant suddenly grew out of the ground, followed by some grapevines that crawled up the tree next to us and proceeded to sprout grapes, courtesy of Hana-chan. I made Yami's shadows spit out the box of sandwiches and cupcakes I'd gotten them to keep earlier, and we had a feast.

"Okay…so, the first thing is, who's gonna get the bells, and who's gonna have to quit?" Hanaha asked, when we had finished our breakfast. Silence ensued. On one hand, quitting may give me a more relaxing and bother-less life. On the other hand, being a ninja would be interesting, and more worthwhile. Then again, only two of us could get the bells and _they _definitely should become ninjas. It'd be a waste of talent if they didn't. However, if I didn't become a shinobi, I wouldn't be able to…

**Oh be quiet! And you accuse me of being noisy! I say, heck care and just get the bells first. You can decide later.**

_... you know what? For once, you actually make sense and prove yourself useful._

"It doesn't matter who gets the bells… yet. If we think too much, we may not get the bells at all. So… on with the plan?" I suggested, voicing out Yami's idea, and ignoring her protests at my indirect insult.

"Right. Any objections, Aki-chan?" Aki-chan shook her head and Hanaha continued on. I'd say she'd make a good leader. "Okay, next. How are we going to sneak up on him?"

"Shadows? I could use them to hide us from view."

"What about taking the bells without him noticing?"

"With your plants, I suppose. A tendril would do. But what if he notices us?"

"Then we'll have a fireworks display!" And so it was settled. We drank a last sip of juice from the pitcher plant before heading towards Kakashi, with the help of Hanaha's plants and Yami's shadows.

When Kakashi finally came into view after following his trail for some time, we also found Naruto hanging upside-down from a tree nearby with a rope attaching his ankle to the branch overhead. There was a pile of lunch boxes on the ground, which, I now presume, Naruto had tried to steal. My first instinct was to scold him for being such an idiot. However, as I stepped towards him, I realised my mistake: I was no longer in the shadows' cover. Crap.

**You baka.**

_Have you anything else to add? You could have warned me you know._

**Nah. Couldn't be bothered. **I sighed at her answer and quickly focused on Kakashi-sensei, or Aki-chan would scold me for spacing out again.

Kakashi-sensei had spotted me immediately, but did not notice my teammates who had enough sense to stay hidden. I could feel both Kakashi's one-eye-target-spotted look and my teammates' delayed oh-shit reaction. Dodging three kunais and one blast of fire, I shot out an edge of shadow and sliced the rope that had trapped Naruto. The shadows caught him and I whistled sharply: Change of plans. Dragging Naruto along, I flickered into the trees and cloaking us in ample shadow, ignoring the sound of explosions and flashes of fiery colours that had erupted from behind me. Aki-chan had better not destroy the entire forest though.

"Chizuki-chan… what's going on?" asked a bemused Naruto as he tried to keep up with my speed. His question suddenly reminded me of something else though. I let go of him and he nearly fell off the tree. Oops. Catching him with my shadow, I put brought him back up onto the branch and 'tied' his shadow to it. Then I quickly folded a messenger dove out of a piece of chakra-paper and sent it to Hanaha. Hopefully, she'd be able to get a bell for Naruto-kun as well.

Back in the meadow where we had arranged to meet if plan B were to take place, I let poor Naruto catch his breath. Perhaps I shouldn't have ran so fast; he looked ready to faint.

**Too bad for the kid. After all, we weren't just escaping from Kakashi, but Firefly's explosions too. Now if I could get Kitsune to teach him… but he's too tightly sealed…**

_You call Naruto 'Kyuubi-kun' yet call the Kyuubi himself just a 'fox'? _

**I may give whatever nicknames to whoever I like, so don't question it.**

"What the hell, Chizuki?" cried Akirai, as soon as she entered the clearing, cheeks flushed from excitement, pleasure and the heat. I'd say Aki-chan could be considered cute, but when she's irritable, she's scary. However, she could sometimes be cute and dangerous at the same time. At first glance, you'd have thought she was angry, but knowing her, I think she enjoyed plan B more than plan A. Sure enough, she began ROTFL, literally.

"Well, I think that went alright, I managed to grab only two bells though. One of them is ours and the other belongs to Team 7. I dropped the third bell when I dodged Kakashi-sensei's fourth fireball jutsu," said Hana-chan when she arrived, two gleaming bells in hand. I wasn't surprised that it'd be difficult to get the bells though. Team 7's bells were hung on Kakashi-sensei's right and ours' were on his left, making the job slightly more difficult. So one bell was given to an even more bemused Naruto while the rest of us stared at the single bell that we had managed to get for ourselves, as if that one bell could miraculously split into three bells.

We got a shock when the alarm bell suddenly rang. We dragged Naruto along with us back to the clearing where the food, poles and Kakashi-sensei was. He still seemed in shock.

"Well, I think that there is no need for all three of you to return to the academy," was the first thing he said. Three? Was he only talking to Team 7? What about us? Or was he talking to the three people who managed to get the bell? No, wait. Naruto has one bell, my team had one, which had yet to belong to anyone, and there were still two bells hanging on Kakashi's waist, so…

"Yup. All three of you should quit as ninjas!" His next sentence however, was horrible and I was still wondering whom he was talking to.

"The objective of this test was teamwork. That is why you were divided into teams to train. Sakura, all you did was go after Sasuke and ignored Naruto. Sasuke, you felt that your teammates would hinder you and so you ignored them," said Kakashi-sensei in answer to the protests and outcries erupting from all of us. Sakura and Sasuke…? I still did not get it. Who was he talking to? "And Naruto, all you did was simply running around by yourself. However, the nameless team seemed to have proven themselves, having gotten two bells together." Oh.

"But Kakashi-sensei, we only have one bell," Aki-chan pointed out.

"And Naruto-kun has one bell too," I added. I think it was only then that he realised the two bells hanging from his waist are on two different sides.

"But you didn't tell us we couldn't take any bells from the other side for the other team," Hana-chan said, coolly. I got a feeling we surprised him though. I hoped he bought Hana-chan's explanation. After all, he didn't say we could either.

"Ah. Then all the more, your team passes. The test was designed to make the team members forget the objective, split up and try to get the bells on their own. However, you guys managed to work together despite knowing that one of you will definitely fail. And as for Naruto, even though he passes, he will still be tied to the pole without anything to eat. It'll be his punishment for trying to eat earlier," Kakashi said, to our surprise. Readdressing his team, he said, "Have your lunch. I'll give you one more chance. Naruto will have to make do with an empty stomach. And unless you three work as a team, he will also fail, with or without the bell. Anyone who tries to feed him forfeits immediately."

With that, he 'poofed' out of the clearing and left us alone with our lunches. Despite having had breakfast, we were still hungry for more food, so we happily dug into our meals. However, the sound that Naruto's stomach made was disturbing and his other two teammates just sat there looking miserable. I pity them.

Then, to my utmost surprise, the girl and the emo-kid offered their lunches to Naruto. Was the world coming to an end? The three of us stopped eating and watched the other three.

**Well, if they didn't feed him, he'd only slow them down later. There **_**is**_** some logic in that. And besides, if they had no heart to feed him for the sake of passing the test, that'd be teamwork going down the drain. **

_Hn. _I continued to watch them and wondered what would happen should Kakashi find out about this. Just because he was out of sight did not mean he wasn't watching our every move still.

**Don't you 'hn' me! You're starting to sound like an Uchiha! **I ignored her like I often did. I was about to check the shadows of the surrounding area for Kakashi's chakra when a blast of stormy wind spun in front of us. Kakashi-sensei's face, full of wrath, appeared from the mist, followed by his entire body.

"YOU—" we all flinched collectively and got into a defensive stance, except for Naruto who was still tied to the pole and Sakura, who was in the middle of untying him. "—all pass."

We all stared at him, blank faces. He chuckled and told us something about teamwork and obedient fools. Basically, what Yami had said earlier.

**I told you s—**I cut her off with a celebratory whoop. It didn't feel awesome at all when we passed but Naruto's team still had to retake the test. But now, I was ready to party. And it seemed, so were the others. Heh. Seemed like the bells didn't matter in the end. I was going to become a shinobi, and protect that one person I had sworn I would defend no matter what.


	6. Chapter 6: Missions

**Here is the next chapter. Sorry for the wait. Hope its okay.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. The fanfic, however, belongs to me! ^_^**

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Chapter 4: Missions

_"The trouble with illusions is that you don't realise you have them until they shatter."_

I stared at the dog and the dog stared back at me. It was a medium sized breed with a scraggly black fur that needing scrubbing, and a lean look. To tell the truth, I didn't mind dogs, but _this one_ was an exception. Not that I didn't like its colour, nor its gleaming black eyes, but its attitude reminded me too much of a certain emo boy who just left on a mission the day before. But before I could do anything, a flash of growling and snapping white fur leaped past me and onto the dog. Hmm… looks like Akamaru didn't like this dog either.

"Akamaru!" yelled Kiba from behind me. Soon the hooded wolf-boy was panting beside me and staring at the furious ball of white and black spinning and yapping.

"Mind controlling your dog, Kiba?" Hanaha said calmly. She was on the other side of me with Shino, while Aki-chan and Hinata was nowhere to be seen. Kiba sighed before yelling some orders at Akamaru, but his dog still did not listen. This time, I sighed. With a flick of my hand, I commanded the shadow beneath the two snarling dogs to wrap its black 'tentacles' around them. The shadow tentacles pulled both snapping dogs apart and lifted them into the air. With another flick of my hand, the stray was dropped into Hanaha's expecting arms and Akamaru onto a surprised Kiba's head.

"Come on, let's bring this dog back to its owner and be don with this lame mission," I said and began walking back towards the Hokage's office with Hana-chan. Kiba's team, excluding Hinata, tagged along silently. This was our eighth week with them; our fifth month as a genin and most of the teams in our batch has learnt about Yami (excluding Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji. When I said 'most' I meant the senseis.) But surprisingly, Akamaru, who had sensed her first, seemed fine around her. I think that's what convinced Kiba that the jyuubi's temper was no more dangerous than an ordinary stray cat, which amused Yami to no end.

So far, I'd say Shikamaru's team was the best to spend time with. Ino was a nice person to chat with as long as you aren't into Sasuke, Choji had awesome snacks and Shikamaru was the perfect person to hang out with. After all, he too, used shadows as his favourite ninja technique, and our lazy personalities weren't very different. I couldn't wait to train with them again next week.

We found Kurenai-sensei waiting just outside the Hokage's building with Akirai and Hinata. Slackers. They entered the building with us, our sensei praising us for successfully completing this mission without her help, as we made our way to the Hokage's office. Upon reaching the office, we spotted someone else other than the Hokage in the room. It was a young woman (at least she _looked_ young. Who knows how old she may really be) with long raven black hair, fair skin and indigo eyes, wearing a grey cloak.

"Ah. Just in time," said the Hokage when he saw us entering. "This will be your first C-rank mission: escort this lady to the Hidden Grass village." He must have noticed all our "What the heck" expressions and even sensei's surprised look, for he quickly explained the situation.

"This lady stopped by our village yesterday when her escort fell ill on their way to Hidden Grass village. She needs to meet someone in Hidden Grass village urgently; hence she would like to depart soon, leaving her escort in our care. I have the confidence that you will all do fine in it." At this, he gave me a meaningful look. After all, it was him who sent us away from Konoha to hide many years ago, which resulted in me nearly travelling the entire world before returning to Konoha. "Besides, the nameless team has completed a few C-rank missions before, their first one was with Kakashi." And there was also _that_. Plus, our first higher-than-D-rank mission with Kakashi was actually a B-rank mission in disguise.

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We left almost immediately. Packing only the necessary weapons and first aid stuff, we took less than ten minutes to get ready. Food was not needed, as Hana-chan's flora would do the trick. Only Kiba packed some meat for Akamaru to eat. The Hokage waited for us at the gates with the lady introduced herself as Miryoku. We waved goodbye to the village and was about to leave when the Hokage pulled me away to talk to me in private.

"Just a little note, Chizuki. I would like to request that you do not use your shadows for this mission. It is advisable to continue doing so until the end of the Chuunin exams, unless you are in a life-and-death situation. I would like to keep Yami's existence from the other countries for a while more. It will be a good opportunity for you to develop some other techniques to use in combat as well," he said in an undertone to me.

"Eh? When are the Chuunin Exams?"

"In four months time. But I want you to be careful until then. By the way, how's the juubi?"

"Well, as of now, Yami's been pretty quiet today. It's probably the weather. It's been really hot and sunny these few days."

"Hmm. That's about it. I shall not delay your mission any longer. Good luck." He ended the conversation and left us. I proceeded to join the rest of my team and the other team.

"You know, I wish we had a name for our team, you know? Its kinda sad to be always referred to as the nameless team," said Aki-chan when I joined them. "So what did the old man say?"

"He told me not to reveal Yami's abilities during from now on until after the Chuunin Exams. And as for our team's name, its because we don't have a sensei."

"But it'll still be nice to be called something else other than 'nameless'," said Aki-chan, sighing.

"What are you gonna do if you can't use shadows?" asked Hanaha. Of course, she was the practical one. I took out a piece of chakra paper and folded it into a paper crane in two seconds, before letting it ride the wind.

"Someone taught me paper techniques some time ago. I've modified it a little, but I can use it fine. I'll use this chance to practice it, I suppose," I answered, thinking of the time when I travelled to different countries and met this woman who taught me the art. Unlike the three of us who've been to other countries before, be it on missions or before we became genins, it was Team Kurenai's first time out of the village. I'd say that Kiba and Akamaru were as excited as Naruto was when we went on our first mission out of the village. Moreover, if I'm not wrong, one of Hanaha's kin was from the Grass Village even though she was brought up in Iwa.

The atmosphere of the mission was very relaxed, with Hana-chan chatting amicably to Hinata who did most of the listening; Kiba, Akamaru and Akirai playing tag, plus Kurenai and Miryoku conversing animatedly. The only two silent ones amongst us were Shino and I. Who knew what goes on in his head, but as for me, well I must say, the clouds were really nice today: spread across the sky like a fluffy blanket and tinted grey in the far horizon. It wouldn't begin to rain until dusk fell.

Throughout the whole journey, I folded origami according to the shapes I seem to see in the clouds, be it a bird, a sheep or even a snail. There was a moment of chaos when Kiba and Hinata freaked out when I accidentally let loose a family of paper spiders that I had just folded, until Aki-chan set the whole lot of them (the spiders, not Kiba and Hinata) on fire. Chaos ceased, pandemonium ensued. What was at first a family of five harmless paper spiders turned into a family of five fiery burning spiders that produced flaming streams of spider silk. If there weren't a risk of the entire forest catching fire and going up in flames (not to mention the Hokage coming after our hides), I would have found the entire situation freakin' hilarious. So while I struggled to remember the technique to getting my origami to self-destruct, Akirai tried to extinguish her flames but to no avail. No matter what jutsu Kurenai-sensei tried on the spiders didn't work either. I swear the lady we were escorting, Miryoku-san, was laughing, but amidst all the smoking flames, I couldn't be sure.

_Yami! Help me remember how to get the artwork to self-destruct!_

**... Self-destruct? Let's see... Paper Petals Scatter, lightning, wind and crane seal. **

_Thanks. _She responded with an unintelligible grunt. I must say, her unusual silence was very welcomed. I focused back to the pandemonium and tried to find the spiders in the midst of stinging flames and smoke. There was a sudden burst of terror-filled scream, shriller than the shouts that filled the background. Ah. There they are.

"Hinata-chan! Hold still!" I yelled at the frightened kunoichi. Then aiming at the small dark shapes scuttling near her, I did the seals and performed the jutsu. The effect was instantaneous: the fire disappeared as the spiders were reduced to swirling shreds of smoking paper. Silence fell and everyone just stared at the smoking earth. Then...

"Sorry." I muttered, almost at the same time as Aki-chan. Now that was unexpected. Nearly everyone stared at her and she pouted sulkily. I grinned. Akirai actually said an apology? Not bad. Not bad at all.

We continued our journey in silence: Aki-chan was sulking; Shino was, well, Shino; Hinata was still in shock and Kiba was comforting her; Kurenai-sensei was walking ahead of us looking very exasperated; Miryoku-san seemed deep in thought. I was starting to feel kinda suspicious of the woman we were supposed to escort though. I thought, for a moment just now during the fire, that I sensed chakra surrounding her. And the chakra seemed familiar, yet unidentifiable. I considered asking Yami about it, but I decided to leave the grumpy demon alone.

It began to rain as we set up camp that night. Akirai had a hard time maintaining the fire, but Hana-chan had more success in sheltering us from the wind with a thick wall of plants surrounding us. Of course, preventing the plants from being reduced to smoldering ashes was another issue. Dinner was mainly fruits and very soon, the exhausted group fell sound asleep. There was no question who was to take the first watch or any consequent watches. That was my duty as the nocturnal person, not that I got any sleep during the day either.

The night was unpleasant, which was unusual. I tend to like the night and midday best, but it was raining and the leaves of Hana-chan's plants didn't provide much shelter from the rain. I wondered how the group managed to fall asleep so quickly when it was all wet and cold. The strange thing is, I don't mind rain unless it was at night. Even Yami didn't know what to make of that. After a while, I began to wonder if it were possible for my paper technique to work in the rain, and if I were to light it on fire, whether or not it will extinguish. So that night, I spent my time exploring this new technique that I never thought I might need to use years ago when I first learnt it. I somewhat wished that the Hokage could have informed me about not using shadows in advance, then I could have had some practice back in Konoha before using it on this mission. Well, as long as this C-rank mission remains a C-rank mission, everything should be all right... I hope…

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**Another chapter done! Next one will be up in a week's time. Hope u enjoyed this entry. Please review! XD**


	7. Chapter 7: Memory II

**Sorry guys, for the late update. Here's the next chapter, another memory. Meet the trio... when they're still kids. XD**

**Hope you enjoy it. Disclaimer: *Check the prev chapter if u really wanna read one.***

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Memory II: Danger

"Dying for a friend is not hard; that which is difficult is finfding a friend worth dying for."

_I have heard of stories, told by many different people, but retold many times over and over again. There were legends, such as the sage who saved the world by splitting the ten-tailed demon into nine different identities, and there were myths, such as that of incubi, spirits and demons. Oh, I knew that most of these tales had some truth in them, and Yami was proof. After all, she was the tenth demon formed from the splitting of the jyuubi, the shadow demon, or so she told me. Well evidently, those two girls has also heard all these tales, and probably ten times more often then I have, and decided that I was one of those characters (the antagonist of course) in those stories. _

_They were no older than I and the two of them had been wandering around exploring the area together before they caught sight of me watching them from the shadows. I had seen them earlier with their parents. The amber-eyed girl with golden-brown hair was from Kumo, having travelled here with her parents who had some business here in Iwa. As for the pale blonde with emerald green eyes, she was from the next village, come here to play. And now both were staring at me wide-eyed and silent, but their aura was very much visible to Yami. I must probably remind them of a nekomata disguised as a little girl, a demon spirit haunting the area. It had taken me two years just to keep Yami in control, but sometimes her shadows still had a will of their own and my eyes were a mismatch of red and blue. It would probably take another year for it to return to its original violet colour. No wonder I scared them._

_I wanted to tell them I meant no harm, but meaning no harm and causing no harm are two different things, I realised some time ago. So I just retreated into the shadows and tried to slip away, but the two silent girls suddenly reacted. The pale blonde screamed and long thorny vines burst out of the earth and tried to catch me, while the other girl spun lightning out of nowhere. But we were kids with no stamina nor training, and the vines returned to the earth not long after and the lightning exploded into a burst of blinding light. I didn't give Yami a chance to counter-attack and made my escape during the explosion. _

_**Che. You do know that they were trying to kill you, don't ya? Should have given them a nightmare or two to teach them a lesson, **__Yami grumbled unhappily._

_But it wasn't their fault. They were scared…_

_**And so are you. Never had six-year-olds trying to kill ya before eh? Well, I must say, for a pair of little kids, they were quite brave. I like their potential… Hehe… A firefly and a wild rose… How interesting.**_

_I remained quiet. She was right. Those who have tried to kill me before had been older, lower-ranked and middle-ranked ninjas, whatever they're called. Something-nin… _

_**Chuunin and jounin, **__Yami reminded me. Whatever it was, having someone my age try to kill me was shocking and to think that even a kid like me would attack me like a frightened animal was upsetting… and painful in a different way from being cut. I curled myself into a ball and leaned on the wall behind me. We were in some deserted alley with enough shadows to conceal us, hiding us from Them and others. There were now more people hunting me, though unlike before, it was more of an assassination than a hunt. There was always one more in the group of ninjas after me each year, and they usually came around this time of the year, near my birthday. They were in a way like birthday presents, for Yami would be so satisfied after killing and devouring them that she wouldn't bother me for weeks. Usually I would let her have her 'meal' as it was hard to control her from killing them, plus they had tried to attack me first. Only the few occasional ninjas who broke down from terror and fear and cried that I spared. Killing these cowards was simply not worth it, besides, their master would not be kind to them for failing their mission. And knowing my mother, they'd probably suffer nightmares as horrible as the ones Yami enjoys giving for weeks._

_The evening faded into night. The darkness and cool silence was refreshing and I stretched myself on the rooftop of some random house, with Yami taking the form of a stray cat and curled up beside me. The stars were nice and pretty, and Yami taught me the constellations. _

_**The stars are better and much clearer in the cloudless desert night sky. I'll show you when we go there one day. And if that uncouth and selfish dog is still there, I'll introduce you to him, **__Yami said. Uncouth and selfish dog? I wasn't sure if I had heard her correctly. She merely chuckled darkly in response._

_The change in the night air was subtle, but evident. There it was. The scent of bloodlust, cold sharp concentration as well as a hint of fear. I sat up, alert for any signs of Them. Yami purred in anticipation. Then they descended, like black ravens, all gleaming edges and dark cloaks billowing in the sudden wind. There was no need to shift my position: Yami lashed out in an instant and the three of them had no chance of retaliating. But there had to be more of them, as Yami could still smell the killer intent in the air. The previous batch of five assassins had revealed to me that my mother was behind these attacks, and it seems to me that Mother must have found sending me an assassin for every year old I was humorous to a certain extent. If the pattern continued, there should be another three more assassins coming. _

_Momentarily distracted by the distasteful sight of Yami's shadow consuming the corpses, I was only aware of the additional two chakras in the area along with an overwhelming sense of fright and panic when I heard a shrill scream pierce the night. I looked over the edge of the roof and glimpsed two fellow girls facing the three additional ninjas I had been waiting for. They were the the ones I had the misfortune to meet this late afternoon. I leapt down without thinking behind the three ninjas, but this lot was faster and sharper than the earlier three. I couldn't dodge the kunai that sliced my cheek and Yami had said that she would not pamper me, whatever that means. Another scream came from the spiky golden-brown haired girl, followed by a bolt of lightning that missed the ninjas by a wide berth. However, this seemed to evoke the wrath of the ninjas and they turned their attention from me back to them. Irritated by the fact that they were provoking other innocent children on the sole mission to kill me, I tripped the guy in front of me using his shadow and he bashed his head on the wall that the two girls had been leaning on. The 'Firefly' girl recovered from the shock of the guy's sudden fall and followed up with another lighting bolt. In that one moment, there was a sense of comradeship. _

_**Well, it is said that the enemy of one's enemy is an ally, **__muttered Yami, still slightly unhappy with the two girls for attacking me. The 'Rose' girl joined in with thorns bursting out of the earth, impaling another of the ninjas. The last one, sensing defeat, had disappeared some time ago. We were all too tired and low on chakra to go after him though. I left the village soon after that, wondering if I'd ever meet these two girls ever again. They were my first two friends, as Yami was not really considered a friend but more of a companion._

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**Did'ja like it? Please review! All comments are welcomed! Next chapter coming up in two weeks time (having writers block)...**


	8. Chapter 8: The Illusionist

**Here's the new super-late chapter. sorry, but I'm a procrastinator. Hehe. I shant bother with the disclaimer and get on with the story.**

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 5: The Illusionist

_"Bad is never good... until worse happens."_

We reached the dense forest where the Hidden Grass Village is located with no further trouble, not counting the incident at night. I had successfully found out that origami-on-fire could not be put out by ordinary rainwater, but the origami owl I folded that night and set on fire disintegrated when struck by lightning. The explosion nearly woke everyone up (nearly – because Miryoku-san and Shino didn't) and frightened the hell out of Hinata and Kiba. Hanaha woke up cursing me and Kurenai-sensei made sure to give me a huge lecture. The only one remotely pleased—or rather, interested in the explosion—was Aki-chan.

The forest was even denser then the one of Konoha, but it was surprisingly less humid, and there were lots of fungi and bamboo growing all over the place. Some of the mushrooms looked really poisonous which Hanaha began admiring and got into a heated argument with Aki-chan who wanted to blow them all up to see what would happen. Naturally, I did not want to face a poison gas or spore storm or whatever may happen, so I sided with Hana-chan, as did everyone else with common sense. I did briefly considered making a paper mushroom containing some harmful powder with an explosive seal on it. That would make a pretty good weapon, I should think.

**Assuming that it does not harm you yourself of course, **snorted Yami, who had resumed being her noisy (or nosy) self in the cooler and shadier weather. I sometimes wonder what I'd do without her, even though I have a strong feeling that life may actually be a whole lot easier without her hanging around. Who knows?

**Ha. If I weren't around, then you wouldn't get out of this alive, **Yami retorted. I blinked, wondering what she meant by that. Then in that moment, the air seem to ripple and everything was plunged into darkness. What the heck. _Yami. What's going on?_

**Genjutsu, **the demon replied casually. So she tells me this _now_ when we're already trapped in it. I mentally pictured hitting her with a sledgehammer in my head. Meanwhile, I could hear a strangled scream coming from Hinata and a whimper from Akamaru. Then a soft evil chuckle came from the darkness that sounded suspiciously like Miryoku-san's. That thought was followed by another chuckle, this time coming from Yami.

The darkness was horrible. Flashes of images flickered here and there, memories… terrible memories… nightmares… and other than these illusions, I couldn't see anyone else. But the feeling was numb, numbed by countless of nightmares I'd experienced before, numbed by the emptiness that I always felt from the day mum abandoned me, the emptiness that had only just begun to fill four years ago. Right from the start, it was always just Yami and me, to the extent that I considered her as my companion. Another scream resounded, shattering me out of my thoughts. _Now why was I becoming so moody anyways? I was on a mission and my friends probably weren't used to this sort of mental onslaught. I had to do something, _I mentally scolded myself.

This was followed by a mental image of a cheerleading squad that Yami projected into my head. _What the hell was that for?_

**Ganbatte, **Yami said dryly. Oh, she was the epitome of helpfulness alright. I activated my night vision, which was something I developed from Yami, and scanned the surrounding area. The place was so dark that even with Yami's eyes, I could only see blurred silhouettes moving around in the darkness. I made my way to the nearest one.

"KYAAAAAAAA!" the silhouette yelled as I approached her (the voice was unmistakably Hinata's.) As I drew closer, her details grew more visible, until I could make out all her features though they appeared black and white (duh.)

"Oh. Its you. Chizuki-chan!" She cried and hugged me. I wondered what she experienced in this darkness before freaking out upon seeing my red and blue demon eyes. Her voice must have been loud enough because soon after that, I heard Akamaru barking joyfully and Kiba's voice, "Eh? Hinata and Chizuki? Where are you?"

It took ages before I successfully located everyone but Kurenai-sensei and we huddled close together in the dark wondering what to do next. _You know Yami, this is a very good time to give us some pointers. _

**Then may I point out that if you walk any further to your right, you will be stepping on a trap, **Yami said smoothly. I quickly stepped to my left. _Why didn't you say so earlier? That was close…_

**Hehe. You may also want to know that there's a super sharp demon wind shuriken coming our way, and it's gonna behead a couple of you guys if ya don't do anything fast.**

_WTF! YAMI! _That bloody demon. Curses. I hate this blindness. Relying on a shadow demon is just too risky. I quickly raised a shadow shield in time to feel a huge impact hit the shield.

"Hey Kiba, can Akamaru smell anything here?" I asked.

"Yes…"

"Can he track down the location of Miryoku? And Hinata, try and see if you can observe our surroundings with your bloodline limit," I said, having decided that I wouldn't ask Yami for help again until I had no other choice. According to Hinata, our left and front were free but on our right and back were chakra strings that were probably connected to some booby traps. According to Kiba, Miryoku was about a few metres away in front of us, slightly to the left. Fine then. Time to turn the tables around. Upon my signal, Hanaha sent creepers growing all over the ground, Akirai sent a couple of fire and lightning combined bolts in Miryoku's direction, and a swarm of Shino's bugs made their way in the direction of the woman's shifting chakra. Even as a couple of kunais and shurikens flew our way, the genjutsu was lifted. We dodged the missiles and found ourselves farther along the trial leading to the village then we had originally started at. Miryoku was a swirl of colours as she fended off the bugs and desperately trying to dodge Hana-chan's creepers that now sprouted thorns. Gotcha.

Then suddenly, in a burst of light, the bugs were sent flying and the creepers suddenly all withered. And standing there in a halo of light was Miryoku, yet not Miryoku. I should have known, seeing as her name was so suspicious (A/N: Miryoku 魅力 means charm/enchantment in Jap.) The woman standing there was my mother, with raven black hair and violet eyes, the one who sent assassins after me once a year just before my birthday. She smirked.

"So we finally meet, after so many years. Did you receive the birthday presents I sent you?" Then my mother just laughed, waved and disappeared. No. More like, a huge white snake suddenly creeped out of nowhere, encircled her and they both disappeared into the undergrowth. An eerie silence fell. Then…

"Umm… I think we should go find Kurenai-sensei?" Kiba asked, tentatively. I nodded silently. It was one thing to know that your mother was still alive and sending assassins after you, but another to actually see her standing there after having just tried to kill you with her own hands.

**Well, looks like she survived that storm that night… **mused Yami. Recalling the last time I saw her, when a huge wave washed her away, I briefly wondered how she survived. After all, she was already injured when the sea took her. Then again, she was a ninja.

**Yea, and probably now working under Orochimaru, if I recognize that snake properly. **Orochimaru, eh? I wondered what kind of news was that, though it was probably bad news, but the I knew nothing about that snake guy except that he was one of the three legendary sannins.

We found Kurenai-sensei exactly where we started on the trial earlier that day. She was unconscious, so I made a gigantic flying paper crane and we put her on it. Then we made our way back to Konoha, mainly relying on our memory (i.e. Hana-chan's, Aki-chan's and mine) as well as Kiba and Akamaru's nose, with the unconscious sensei lying on the crane that hovered beside us. Hopefully, my mum didn't do anything too serious to Kurenai-sensei that Konoha's hospital couldn't heal. What a failed mission this was.

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**So, how did ya like it? next up: a chapter with GAARA! Finally! Til then, sayonara!**


	9. Chapter 9: Chuunin Exams

**Here's the chapter I took so long to write... sorry for the long wait! In truth, i wrote in a long time ago, but accidentally deleted the whole lot and got so emo i had no mood to rewrite it... but now that its done... enjoy, the first chapter featuring... Gaara-kun~**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OCs and maybe part of the plot**

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Chapter 6: Chuunin Exams

_"Sometimes a person puts up walls, just to see who cares enough to tear the down."_

"Die, froggies, DIE!" screamed Akirai as she kept blasting bolts after bolts of lightning at the paper frogs that I'd made. The resilient little critters kept hopping after her though, despite looking a mite bit more charred then when they first started to annoy her. The scene was hilarious. Even Shikamaru looked like he was about to go into a laughing fit, which I have yet to see. Usually he'd just call Aki-chan a 'troublesome woman' then walk off. We were currently just hanging out outside a food shop and doing nothing in particular (excpet Akirai and I: I was practicing my origami and she was trying to destroy them. Who knew she hated frogs so much?)

**Wait til she meets that perverted toad! Hah! Won't she freak? Hehehe… **Yami chuckled savagely. I sighed. So typical of her. It was three months plus after that disaster of a mission and I made sure to find out how to do a proper genjutsu release, just in case I'd need it in the future.

After relaxing with Shikamaru and his team after a couple of small missions, we decided to go have some lunch. I intended to check on Naruto-kun and see how he was faring after the meal. As it turned out, I didn't have to wander far before I saw Pinkie chasing after four figures: Naruto-kun, the Hokage's grandson, and two other kids whom I assume, were part of Konohamaru's team and Naruto's unofficial disciples. It wasn't very hard to guess what the commotion was about considering the people involved.

**Hehe. The idiot's never gonna get a girlfriend at this rate… **Yami laughed. And I agreed with her. Poor guy… he was evidently smitten with Sakura, who had quite a temper. He should have fallen for someone better… hell, even the Uchiha didn't deserve that pink-head. Sakura really should improve… on almost everything.

**In my opinion, spending some time with the Slug Lady should help… **I couldn't be bothered to attempt understanding what the demon was implying, so I promptly ignored her… until she said, **Watch out **in such a quiet but very attention-grabbing way that she usually saved for warnings.

I quickly surveyed the scene as it unfolded. Konohamaru had bumped into someone wearing a black suit, cat-eared hood, face paint and a bandaged bundle strapped to his back (which reminded me of a mummy).

"That hurts," that 'someone' said, hands in his pockets. The girl standing beside him had her hair tied in four short pony-tails and a giant fan strapped to her back. The black-hooded guy was now lifting Konohamaru by his shirt front.

**Ah. If it ain't Puppet-boy and Wind-cutter. **In other words, Kankuro and Temari of Suna. They must be here for the Chuunin Exams.

"That hurt you little piece of shit," Kankuro repeated. His ister, however didn't seem so keen on torturing the poor boy.

"hey fatass, let go o him! Bastard!" Naruto yelled in rage and tried to attack Kankuro. However, the sand genin simply twitched a couple of chakra strings and poor Naruto-kun tripped and fell backwards. Idiot Kankuro. I never did like that guy, ever since the first time I met him when I was seven.

"Oh. Leaf Ninjas are weak," Kankuro said so casually, which added to the insult. Naruto continued to insult Kankuro and almost tried to attack him again. I say almost, because Sakura had enough sense to restrain him.

"Hey, you're so annoying," commented Kankuro. Another insult. "Basically… I hate midgets… especially younger ones that are rude… makes me want to _break_ them."

All the konoha genin, me excluded were shocked by that proclamation, while Temari simply denied responsibility of wahatever would happen next. Me? I was just getting more and more irritated b the guy. And when he said his next words, "Well after this one, I'll take care of the other annoying midget," and prepared to punch Konohamaru, I broke in.

"Hey, cat-face (usually not an insult I'd use: I liked cats, Yami excluded)! You're in Konoha now so you better treat the citizens here properly and with due respect!" I yelled at the puppet-master. I never did like that guy, and for good reason too. Kankuro turned to look at me. Bad mistake, dude. I kicked him hard in his didn't even have time to do any of his chakra string tricks. He refused to let go off Konohamaru. I glared back. The poor guy (refering to Kankuro) was hit by a rock next, letting out a yelp and releasing Konohamaru.

We all looked up to see Sasuke sitting on a branch above Kankuro. Good one Uchiha! I smirked. I may not like mr Emo-chicken-butt-head, but I hated the puppet-master a hell lot more.

"What are you bastards doing in our village?" Sasuke asked. This was followed by Sakura going into total fangirl mode, and Naruto looking very annoyed. Yami noted that Temari seemed to find Sasuke attractive. Well at least she ain't the type to fangirl that duck-ass (hopefully. I didn't mind the elder sister.)

"Ah, two more people who pisses me off…" muttured Kankuro, and the irritable Uchiha simply told him to get lost. Sakura went into a total new level of fangirldom while Konohamaru was disappointed in Naruto. Of course, I pity naruo for appearing useless as compared to the Uchiha, but at the moment, I was more focused on kicking Kankuro's ass.

Kankuro glared at the Uchiha and demanded him to come down. Haha, no one orders an Uchiha around except maybe Kakashi and the Hokage. Probably angered by the Uchiha and I, he promptly reached for the bundeled strapped behind him, despite Temari's protests. And then I heard it.

"Kankuro, stop it." Everyone looked up. "You're an embarressment to our village." Kankuro flinched. On (or rather, _hanging below_) another branch was a boy with blood red hair, cold aquamarine eyes ringed with black, arms crossed, a large gourd strapped to his back. Gaara of the Desert.

**Omy! Look who's here! Shukaku and Tanuki-kun, **cried Yami gleefully. I could hear the sand demon chuckle in response (mentally of course.) I left the two demons to greet each other (in my head, which was quite distracting. One demon was bad enough, now two?) and focused on the situation at hand. Everyone was shocked o see his appearance. Sasuke, because Gaara had appeared on a branch so close to him yet so sneakily he hadn't noticed a thing. While Temari and Kankuro were shocked because… well _frightened _may be a better word. Gaara began to scold/critisize/threaten Kankuro while the older brother tried to come up with excuses for his behavior.

"Shut up. I'll kill you," growled Gaara, interupting his brother. He'd grown older since I last saw him. I winced mentally at the coldness in his eyes… and the hurt and pain deep underneath the icy surface. And it was indirectly my fault. This thought was followed by dark laughter coming from both demons. I felt like strangling them both.

Kankuro began to apologise hastily under Gaara's cold glare. It was obvious who's boss amonst the three of the, even though Gaara was the youngest. In a swirl of cloth and sand, Gaara descended onto the ground between Kankuro and Temari. They turned to leave, but Sakura stopped them, demanding an explanation for their sudden arrival in Konoha. That idiot. This was followed by some questions (mostly from Naruto-kun) regarding the Chuunin Exams and some explainations (mostly from Temari-san.) Naruto naturally got all excited about going for the Exams, and totally ignored Temari in the middle of her explanations, which irritated her a lot. The Uchiha then descended rom the tree beside Naruto and Sakura.

"Hey you, what's your name." Typical of the Uchiha. Naturally, he had sensed a potential opponent in Gaara. Temari turned around.

"Do you mean me?" Yami scoffed at that. I sighed at the slight blush on Temari's face.

"No," Sasuke clarified. "You, with the gourd."

"Sabaku no Gaara," the jinchuriki responded in a monotone voice. His voice. Colder than a desert night. "I'm also interested in you… your name?"

Sasuke smirked. "It's Uchiha Sasuke."

"And you, the one with the cat. What's your name?" Gaara continued. I was stunned into silence. Reason 1: Since when did Yami materialised as a coporeal cat? She was now circlicing my feet, an inky shadow with haunting eyes. Reason two: He didn't recognise me. Relief and disappointment rushed through me. My face remained blank. A poker-face.

"Yoruka Chizuki." Gaara frowned and stared at the revolving cat, its red and blue eyes seemed to trigger something but he simply left after that. He really didn't recall me after all and Shukaku confirmed it. Of course, that meant that the sand demon couldn't be bothered to let its host know either.

My team and team 7 met Kakashi-sensei the next morning (he was late as usual) and upon arriving, he promptly announced that all six of us were nominated for the Chuunin exams. Naruto was elated. Apparently, all three senseis who had helped look after my team had nominated us too, seeing as we didn't have a sensei of our own. He passed all of us our applications and naruto began hugging Kakashi-sensei. The application was optional, he told us so, and yet…

**You can't enter unless all three in your team agrees on joining in, **said Yami. I could hear the smirk in her voice. Sometimes I wonder how she knows these things, but nowadays I don't bother. I glanced at my teammates. Aki-chan was dancing around with Naruto-kun, while Hana-chan was looking extremely suspiciously at the application sheet., as I wondering how much plant life was wasted in printing these out. I looked at the other team. It was obvious the Uchiha was going to enter, and as or Naruto-kun… well, he _was _evidently on cloud-nin. Sakura, on the other hand, didn't seem so keen on joining. I just hoped Pinkie wouldn't spoil their chance on entering the exam. Sasuke and Naruto-kun would probably go after her if she didn't enter. She had my sympathies.

**Che. **Yami snorted. _Honestly! _That cat just thought humans as entertainment no doubt.

I spent the rest of the contemplating about the Exams and the sudden arrival of _Gaara_ and what it could bring. He was my Desert boy. My lost friend.

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**So, how did you find the chapter? Please review! ^_^ And since I made you guys wait so long for this chapter, I'm adding the next chapter, a memory, at the same time as this one as compensation.**


	10. Chapter 10: Memory III

**Okay, so this is an ultra-long memory chapter. Hope you like it... its another chapter featuring Gaara-kun. Anyways, I'm currently working on my next chapter, so my hiatus status is no more. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, the idiot won't be the main character: Gaara will be.**

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Memory III: Desert

"It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you."

_A huge expanse of golden sand stretched across the horizon before me. The sun was up, sending waves of blistering heat. But it was a beautiful sight. It was my first time seeing the desert, and the dry open air, the scorching heat, the graceul sand dunes, were all new to me. Oh bliss! Or one who kept to the shadows most of the time, this was certainly quite a change. Bu there wasno one around, no one in the vast empty desert except my Shadow and I. _

_I collapsed on the grainy sand which was soft and hard at the same time. So warm, so peaceful. Ever since the temperature got too warm, Yami had been silent. The only indicator of her presence was the shadow. Her shadow overlapped mine, and I knew that if I stepped into it, I would have found the sand there cool. I lay in the sand, feeling far more comfortable than I had ever been before. I didn't have to worry about getting sunburn, for Yami was too vain. That was the same reason why I never looked like a panda despite never sleeping. Though she only uses her shadow to protect me in life and death situations, she'd still use her chakra for really minor stuff like changes in skin color. I doubted Yami would like me getting tan either._

Ne, Yami… Are there really people who live out there? _I asked the demon. The desert looked pretty empty to me, and I wondered what the Sand village would look like. Yami didn't respond however, so I simply let mysel relax in the sand, eyes half-closed to keep out stray grains of sand in the wind. I knew that we'd have to get on the move soon, if we hoped to find food and shelterfor the night. I knew that the desert could become pretty dangerous especially in a sandstorm or when there was no more water. Yami told me so, but for now…_

_Darkness. Warm darkness. It contradicted itself, for wasn't warmth supposed to be bright, and darkness supposed to be cold. Comfort. I was immersed in a strange calm and relaxation. So sweet… so pleasant… I slept for the first time. _

_I had never questioned the logic in not sleeping when you had a demon of shadows in you. I was sometimes engulfed by memories that weren't my own, memories of the previous people Yami had possessed. I knew what would happen if I were to sleep. But when I finally woke up to the harsh cry of a hawk, I wasn't alarmed. Afterall, I was in the middle of an empty desert, right? I checked my surroundings, just to be sure. I was definetly in the desert with no other human in sight. The sun was still high, but no longer directly above head. I smiled to myself, when I heard Yami yawn inside my head. So demons could sleep, and this one slept in the hottest and brightest of times. I had found a time for me to sleep, for perhaps an hour or so. We made our way to Sunakagure and reached there just as the sun began to disappear below the horizon._

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_The village was beautiful, like the desert, its buildings all uniquely built for the desert. I stood in one corner of a busy street as someone dropped a paper bag at my feet and left. This was not the first time; I wore a dirty white shirt and a ragged pair of pants salvaged from somehwere,so no doubt I resembled the beggar kid I was. But usually, I was the stray cat, scavenging for food, like all the other street kids did, but I only stole when it was an absolute necessity. That was easy though, slipping around like a shadow, and using illusions to keep me from getting caught._

_I picked up the bag and opened it. Inside were some meat buns. I looked around, then did what leopards liked to do with food: bring it somewhere safe to it. I didn't want any other street kid to come and try robbing me of my food. Of course dealing with anyone, adult or kid is no problem for Yami, but I was hoping to stay in this pleasant village a little longer than in the previous one. If I were to torment anyone, it's attract attention. _

_I found a place near a playground of sorts, but when I heard the sounds of children playing, I had to go have a look. Curiosity may kill cats, but this cat would be very hard to kill. Afterall, they were just children. And judging from their clothes and the ball they were playing with, they probably had a home and family, which meant that there was a less chance of them coming for my food. Food was hard to come by._

_Then I noticed someone sitting on the swings. He had the reddest hair I'd ever seen, dark rings around large pale aquamarine eyes, and a large teddy bear in his hands. I frowned at the expression on his face. It was clear he was unwelcomed there, but why? And what was with those black ringed eyes? Insomnia? This sent Yami into a fit of chuckles. I ignored her and continued to watch the children play, watch the ball as it soared through the air and landed on a ledge on a tall wall._

_Before I even moved a step forward, I saw something that looked like sand encircling the ball and carrying it off the ledge, before dropping the ball into the hands of the lone boy I had seen sitting on the swings. He stood there, the large brown ball in his hand, his eyes seemed to be set into a permanent sad-frown which I didn't like. Of course, Yami seemed to find something very amusin I simply found the sand controlling skill amazing. _

"_You are… Gaara…It's Gaara of the sand…" said one of the other kids and they slowly backed away. I found this puzzling. People only backed away from me when Yami made her presense known, so what was so scary about this boy? _

"_Run for it!" yelled the kids as they suddenly began panicking. One kid ran near me, so I pulled his shadow rom under him, causing him to trip. I hurried over._

"_Hey, wait! What's going on?Why are y—" I began._

"_Are you an idiot? That kid's a monster!" The guy said as he picked himsel up, and continued running. The kid? I glanced back at the red-haired boy whom they call Gaara. I was prepared to escape, and avoid notice, but when he yelled 'wait!' I stopped. His arm was outstretched and streams of sand shot throught the air, reaching for the children. I watched in shock as the kids were one by one pinned down and attacked by the sand. What shocked me most was the tormented expression on his face as he attacked them. For a brief moment, I had the notion that he was suffering more than the kids he tortured. Too late I realised I was one of his targets too, and probably the only target that wasn't moving._

_Sand enguled me, choking me, and I struggled. I wondered why didn't Yami do anything, unless she didn't deem the situation life-thretening enough. I heard a loud chuckle. I froze. That chuckle wasn't Yami's. _

_**My, aren't you sweet… **__that voice wasn't Yami's either. It was deeper, rougher, a male's voice. _

_**Che. If it isn't dear Shukaku… **__now _that _Yami's voice. Shukaku… where have I heard his name before… right. Seven years ago, Yami had compared my mother's selfishness with someone called Shukaku._

_**Ne~ Kurai-ko, meet Shukaku, demon of the desert, the ichi-bi. **__Yami said, and dragged me into my inner world where she was chained. She was not the only one there, I noticed. A sandy golden creature was beside her. Though its outlines weren't clear, probably because he was sealed in someone else-the boy called Gaara, it resembled a mutated tanuki with blue markings and two large yellow eyes. Tanuki… a racoon-dog. I suddenly recalled Yami telling me once that she'd introduce me to an 'uncouth and selfish dog' should they ever go to the desert. This demon must be that 'dog' she mentioned. _

_**So, you're Yami's new jinchuriki eh?**__ Shukaku asked. I didn't have to answer, Yami did for me._

_**And you've been sealed in a small boy called**_** 'self-loving carnage'**_**… Che. There's no time for small talk, **_**Ichi**_**-bi. Your sand is hurting my host. Now that the introductions are done, could you let go? If you don't, I'll—**__Yami went into a rant, threatening the other demon, and was obviously the stronger of the two. In response to that, Yami promptly showed me a few of images of her beating the hell out of Shukaku during a breif period of time when he wasn't sealed. _

…_**! Alright! Alright… **__growled the tanuki demon. I was brought back to reality by a sharp pain in one of my legs. I gasped, only to inhale a hell lot of sand. But Shukaku must have withdrawn his bloodlusty influence from the boy, for the sand soon relaxed in its grip. But my left leg gave way as soon as the sand retreated, leaving me without support. It hurt. It hurt. And I could feel it, a warm wetness on my leg, its bittersweet scent was in the air… blood. All I could do was crouch on the ground, trying not to scream aloud. The pain increased in a sudden flare, then die… No. More like, it hurt so much that my leg was numb. There was no more pain to feel. I finally looked up._

_The boy stood before me, his red hair ruffled by a passing wind. Red hair the color of blood. My mind was a mess. After getting attacked, the pain, the demon, my instincts that told me to run, but my leg that couldn't even stand, and now with Shukaku's bloodlust temporarily kept at bay, Yami's own desire for revenge flooded through me. She wantd to envelope the boy with her darkness, and give him nightmares that didn't require falling asleep. But from the look in the boy's eyes, it was possible he was already in one. A living nightmare. _

_He was the slightly shorter, and was probably seven too, like me. But when I struggled to stand up on a leg that would not listen, and struggled to remain on my feet, unable to stand straight, we were the same height. He stiffened, as I wrapped my arms around him. Because of Yami's taste for darkness, I was able to sense his pain far more clearly than anyone else, and it was because though we were both jinchurikis, it was obvious he suffered a great deal more than I did. The hug was on an involuntary action, a sudden impulse. Yami was not pleased, bu I didn't care. I may no have any parents, but Yami was often more of a companion than a demon. She took care of me, and kept me safe, but it was clear that Shukaku, being the selfish demon that he was, had no care at all for his host except maybe, or survival. In fact, I wouldn' be surprised if the demon caused the boy a great deal more trouble than his mere existence. _

_Red spots danced with black. It reminded me of a red moon in a black sky. Where have I seen that before…? I fell unconcious for the second time in a day._

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_When I woke up, I found myself on something very soft and fluffy. I sat up straight, then winced when my leg protested in pain. I was in a white bed. No wonder it was so comfortable… I'd forgotten what a proper bed felt like already. The room I was in was clean and neat. Simple with nothing but a bed, a window, and a small bedside-table. There was a paperbag on the table and I suddenly recalled what had happened. I had fainted while hugging the boy. Where was he now? Where was I? I tested my legs on the floor. My left still hurt like hell but my right was strong enough. i got off the bed and sat on the floor, taking the paper bag with me. The four meat buns were still inside, and surprisingly, not one was sandy. I briefly wondered how I had forgotten the buns during the attack, and wondered how I still had them with me. _

_I went under the bed to eat. Moonlight shone through the window, cold and bright. But I had the sudden desire to curl up in the shadows and hide. Hide from what, I do not know. Plus, it was warmer under the bed. I didn't know deserts could be so cold at night. As I retreated into the darkness under the bed, I felt the shadows wrap around me, soft and light, as I welcoming me back into its embace. _Yami.

_**Hehe. Finally awake, eh? Not that you've been out for long. Only an hour, in fact… **__came Yami's voice. I smiled a little__, suddenly aware of how lucky I was to have her as compared to Shukaku._

"_Oh, she's… gone?" I suddenly heard a male voice say as the room door opened. Looking out from under the shadows, I saw a sandy brown haired guy walk in. Well, at least I assumed it was a guy from the voice; he looked female. Then behind him was… the boy. The red-head jinchuriki. I stayed in the shadows under the bed, unsure of whether to reveal myself or not. Thanks to Yami, my presence was mostly hidden by her shadow. No odinary ninja could find me if I didn't want to be found. _

_My gaze met his. I was surprised; he'd found me under the bed so quickly. I gulped, hugging the paperbag tight. I watched as sand drifted slowly towards me, almost cautiously. Each grain glinted white-gold in the moonlight. _

_**You like my sand eh? **__Shukaku's voice entered my head. _

_**Oh please, you self-centred bastard! Could you just explain what's going on? **__Yami snapped back. It sounded like the restarting of a previous conversation._

_**Well, this is Yashamaru, the brat's uncle. And we're in one of the guest rooms in the Kazekage's mansion… My host is the son of the Kazekage. **__And the story unfolded. I listened to how the boy's mother died, picking up what I could from his dark laughter-punctuated-sentences, while watching as sand picked me up roughly and dragged me out from under the bed. _

_I found myself lying in an undignified heap at Yashamaru-san's feet. He looked surprised. _

"_Gomenasai, it was warmer under the bed…" I said, sheepishly, sitting up, the sand still wrapped round my ankles. That was kind of true, as I noticed that there was no blanket on the bed. Not that I was complaining. A bed was already considered a luxury to me._

"… _So there you are," the man said and crouched down to my level. "Do you feel better? Your leg has been treated as best as we could, and you seem to heal fast, so it should be healed in a few weeks time."_

"_Oh. Uh… Yeah. I'm quite alright. Sorry to trouble you, Yashamaru-san," I replied uncertainly, not really used to talking to anyone outside my head._

"…_! Well, you seem to know I am nut I don't know who you are. Are you new here? I havn't seen you around before. That's also why I didn't know where you liv e nor how to contact your parents," said Yashamaru-san. I scolded myself in my head;. I shouldn't have used his name when hadn't even introduced himself yet._

"_Um… most of the time I'm called Kurai-ko… My dad's dead and I don't know where my mum is… so I wander by myself. You're right, I'm new here. I've only been here for a day," I replied, not bothering to tell him any details. His face was a picture of shock._

"_Oh… I see… Why don't you stay here then?" _

"_Eh?" I couldn't help but exclaim. A place to stay? It was too good to be true… by it's cause them trouble too… I glanced away to think over it, and saw the boy eyeing my paperbag. With Shukaku's nose, no doubt he could smell the one remaining meatbun left in my paperbag. Sighing, I took it out and offered it to him. He took he from me gingerly, as if he couldn't be sure if he was supposed to take it. I sighed again. There goes my supper._

"_No thanks… I wouldn't want to trouble you any further. Goodbye," I said hurriedly. It suddenly occurred to me that with Shukaku around, these people definitely didn't need another demon—and ten-tailed one at that—causing chaos. I tried to leave, but I had forgotten that the boy's sand was still wrapped around my ankles, as well as the fact that my left leg was wounded. I tripped in my haste. Ow. _

_**Shukaku. For hell's sake could you please get your host to release Kurai-ko? Now? **__Yami asked, a little irritably. When Shukaku replied that he didn't care, it sparked a tyrade from Yami and I got a headache. _

"…" _as soon as I opened m,y mouth, I realised I didn't know what to call him. I didn't like the name Gaara, and 'demon' or 'tanuki' was out of the question. I just hope he didn't mind the new name for him._

"… _Desert boy, could you let go of my legs… please?" I asked, tentatively. The sand retreated, and I rubbed my ankles. _

"_Gomen…" muttered Desert boy. I stared at him._

"_Why're you apologising?... Oh. Right," I wondered why it didn't occur to me that an apology was in order when you nearly kill someone, then drag that someone across the floor when she's still recovering. Then something else hit. "You don't mind me calling you 'Desert boy'?" He looked surprised and shook his head. I grinned, satisfied._

"_Hmm… do you mind being Gaara-kun's playmate?" Yashamaru asked. I stared at him, not really comprehending what he just said._

"_If you think you'll trouble us by staying, then why not stay… in exchange for being Gaara-kun's playmate," Yashamaru explained. Well, that was a nice idea. I nodded, and my face split into a huge grin. Sunakagure indeed was quite a fine place._

* * *

_Playing with Desert Boy was fun. Everyday, they'd go everywhere together, thy shared their measl and snacks, and spend the night on the roof chatting or simmmply stargazing. Yami had been right; the there were a lot more stars in the clear desert skies than anywhere else. At first, things weren't that comfortable, for Desert Boy was often shy and silent—and so was I—plus Yami still held a grudge against him. But after awhile, her grudge for him faded though she still didn't like Shukaku very much. It occurred to me that the few people I made friends with had all tried to kill her once. _(A/N: remember the first time Hanaha and Akirai met her?) _We even exchanged gifts as a symbol of our friendship. I gave Desert boy a crescent-shaped key-chain which I'd bought with the pocket money Yashamaru-san gave me, and he gave me a small hourglass pendant. There were often people who insulted Desert Boy or cursed at him, but each time, two things would happen: a) I'd punch the person b) quickly drag Desert Boy away before a fight breaks out. When Desert boy questioned my actions, I grinned and simply told him that I'd protect him no matter what._

_Sometimes, I'd meet the other two Kazekage children: Temari-san and Kankuro-kun, Desert Boy's elder siblings. Kankuro-kun was older than Desert Boy by two years, while Temar-kun was older than Kankuro by a year. Naturally, both received nicknames from Yami too. Of course, no one knew my shadow abilities yet, and I had no intention of letting them know. As my eyes were still red and blue, I'd long ago began keping side bangs, and used my long right fringe to cover the red eye. No one needed to know that there was a second and more dangerous demon in their midst. Ignorance is often bliss._

_I loved to draw, and my sketches were often very realistic for someone my age. Sometimes I'd color my drawings too. Being with Yami had given my some really warped artistic talents, and many of my drawings were pretty morbid. But I had a precious sketchbook where I drew the things I loved. A portrait of the two girls I made friends with the year before was inside it, and now, Ibegan drawing other stuff like Suna's beautiful desert scenes, Desert boy, and his sister. Of course, I sometimes drew those whom I didn't actually like, such as Shukaku and Kankuro. I soon found Kankuro more irritating than that raccoon dog though._

_I had been busy drawing a picture of Desert boy and Shukaku. Kankuro-kun entered the room with Yashamaru and Desert Boy and was curious about my drawing. His eyes widened upon seeing the subject matter of the artwork. _

"_What the hell? Kowai-desu… Why on earth do you want to draw two demons?" said Kankuro-kun in a hushed voice. I didn't know if Yashamaru-san or Desert boy heard what he said but I was furious. My drawing contained one son-of-a-bitch raccoon and a friend. Didn't he know how to count? It was obvious he feared Desert boy almost to the point of dislike. I tackled him to the floor while the other two watched on with shock. Of course, being smaller sized, and younger, without using Yami's abilities, I lost to the guy, but not before I gave him a good black-eye and a kick in the… _ahem._ Since then, I used no honorifics with his name. _

_Kankuro was not the only one whom I ended up getting into a fight with though. One day, I went out alone for awhile, for I hadn't seen Desert boy th whole day. I assumed he must be with Yashamaru so I decided to buy something for Desert boy with the pocket money Yashamaru-san gave me. After wandering around the village the entire afternoon and finding nothing suitable, and darkness descended, Yami's sensed something wrong. Worried, I quickly made my way make to th Kazekage's mansion. On my way there, I was ambushed. They were the two genins and one chuunin I had seen earlier in the day gossipping about Desert boy and I. Surrounded, I had no choice but to fight my way out. But as the fight wore on, and Yami's warning got stronger and stronger, I was left with no choice but to use darkness to my aid. No doubt I'd be chased out of Suna the next day but I didn't care. _

_I found Desert boy on the rooftop, but it was too late. I arrived just in time to witness Yashamaru—who was lying on the floor bleeding all over—telling Desert boy about his birth and the hate he and his sister—Desert boy's mother's—hate. I watched in horror, stunned, as I saw Yashamaru die and Desert boy scarring himself with the word 'love' on his forehead. When I tried to approach him, he threw me aside with his sand and I crashed into hard rock. _

"_You!" came Desert boy's tormented cry. "You're just like the rest of them! I hate you!" Then he disappeared in a whirlwind of sand. _

_I cried, for the first time in my memory. I never cried before, not in pain, not in loneliness, not in anything for that matter. But tears fell that night, in grief, in regret, in self-disgust for the promise I failed to keep. The promise I made to a friend, to protect him no matter what, a promise to a friend I no longer had. Desert boy was no more. He was now Gaara._

_I left early in the morning. There was no reason for me to stay in that village any longer. I was no longer wanted, and three people knew of my shadow abilities. The only way to grow stronger, strong enough to mend the broken promise I made to Gaara-kun, was to move on. With Yami by my side, I set of for the next village. Konoha._

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**That's all for now... please review, people. next chapter coming up... in one weeks time (take it as two weeks in case I procrastinate)**


	11. Chapter 11: Written Test

**Here's the chapter. hope I didn't keep you guys waiting. Please review kay, so that I know which parts are good and which parts I shld improve on. Anyways, hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Enjoy.**

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Chapter 7: The First Test

_"The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right next to him... knowing you can't have him."_

The early morning sun enveloped the pendant in a soft golden glow, the light refracted in fiery pink amber and white rays upon the glass and the sand within glinted like golden dust. The hourglass pendant was a beauty, like the desert it came from, like the village it represented. It was the only thing I had left from my time in the wind country… that and the sketchbook I still kept with me.

"Goooood Mornniiing Everyone~! Today is _the _day! Wake up, Hana-chan!" Akirai's voice rang throughout the three-bedroom apartment we shared. I winced, as Hanaha's curses could be heard. If I had not been sitting on the roof, nor awake when Hana-chan made her daily morning calls like a rooster, I would have gone deaf ages ago.

I slipped the hourglass necklace over my head and let it rest over my collarbone under my shirt. I wasn't the type to wear any form of jewellery, but I always kept that pendant on me all the time. Shrugging on my hoodie, I leaped off the roof and waited for my teammates on the ground floor. Hana-chan and Aki-chan emerged a few minutes later with Hana-chan still putting on her gloves and Aki-chan wearing a long metal chain around her waist like a belt. I had a pretty good guess what the chain-slash-whip could be used for.

We entered the building where the first part of the Chuunin Exams was going to be held, meeting with team 7 on our way there. Naruto was extremely enthusiastic, Chicken-butt-head was being his usual emo self, and Sakura was unusually sullen… not surprising though. When we reached the second floor, we saw a crowd gathering outside a door that said 301. (A/N: I know this is irrelevant, but I just had to say, my classroom number in school was 201) There were two guys standing outside the door and beating up a green-clad guy with seriously thick eyebrows. Apparently, the two genins were mocking the green-suit guy and his teammates because of their 'young age', as the two genins themselves had failed three times before.

"Idiots… I don't care what you guys do, but could you please let us through?" I said irritably. "Oh, and please remove the genjutsu surrounding the area too." I glared at Mr Emo. He had just said that lest sentence at the same time as I did, and I did not like saying anything in unison with him.

"We're going to the third floor," continued Sasuke, ignoring my glare, smirking. This caused some mutterings and confusion within the crowd.

"So you noticed…" said one of the two genins standing outside the door. Sasuke turned to Sakura.

"Sakura, you must have noticed first right? Your analytical ability and genjutsu know-how is the most improved in our team." Akirai and Hanaha snorted at this. I could also hear Yami having a fit of laughter in my head.

"Of course I noticed this awhile ago… this is the second floor," said Sakura smoothly, playing along. But four of us (Sasuke and my team) knew that Sasuke was just giving Sakura an opportunity to 'display their team's intelligence'. Naruto too, played along, nodding his head saying "Yup!" The '301' sign promptly reverted back to the real thing: 201.

"Not bad… But all you did was… see through it!" yelled more talkative of the two genins outside the door, as he swung up a leg to kick Sasuke who swiftly raised his to counter it. However, the green-clad genin suddenly appeared in the middle of the two of them and stopped both their kicks with his hands. We were surprised. He was nothing like the guy being bullied earlier on.

"What happened to our plan? You're the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves," said one of the green-guy's teammates, a black-haired boy with pale silver-ish eyes. So that was what this was all about. Aki-chan nudged me and I spotted the expression on green-suit-guy's face. He walked over to Pinkie. Wth.

"Hi, my name's Rock Lee… So yours is Sakura," said the green-guy. "Let's go out together! I'll protect you till I die!" Then he flashed a sparkling white smile, thumbs up. My team and I face-palmed.

"No… way… you're lame…" Sakura said, and Lee looked extremely depressed at the rejection. Akirai and a hard time stifling her laughter.

"Well, she's into the Uchiha idiot after all…" said Hana-chan, sighing.

**I've decided, **Yami suddenly announced. **His nickname shall be Green Monkey. **I face-palmed again.

"Hey you, what's your name?" came the voice of the silver-eyed genin from Lee's team. He looked strong enough, and his aura was similar to Sasuke's and Gaara's. The competitive, genius, and arrogant aura. I could see Naruto fuming away, probably cursing Sasuke for stealing the spotlight again.

"When you want to know someone's name, you should give yours first," Sasuke replied.

"You're a rookie, right? How old are you?" the silver-eyed guy shot back.

"I don't have to answer you," Sasuke said, and the both of them walked away from each other. Stubborn idiots. Hell, the only thing they accomplished with their conversation was probably to cause the female genin in Lee's team to react the same way Temari did: blush. Sakura then pulled her teammates away, seemingly more enthusiastic than earlier in the morning. Sighing, my teammates and I followed behind.

"Hey, guy with the dark eyes," came a voice from above. We all looked up, to see Lee standing there with a determined expression on his face.

"What is it?" asked Sasuke.

"Will you… fight me right here?" said Lee.

"A fight right now?"

"Yes." And Lee descended to the same level as us. "My name is Rock Lee; when you want to know a person's name, you introduce yourself first, right?"

"Uchiha Sasuke," replied Mr Emo. Then Lee gave his reasons for wanting to fight Sasuke a) to test his own abilities against an Uchiha, b) to win Sakura's admiration, causing Sakura to nearly faint in disgust. Hanaha just sighed and dragged us off, not really caring about the 'pointless fight' as she puts it. Akirai refused to be dragged away and Stayed behind to watch though, so Hana-chan and I left her there.

"Tell us how good that green monkey is later, kay?" I told Aki-chan, causing her to raise her eyebrow at my use of Yami's nickname for Lee, but simply nodded and did Lee's thumbs-up-pose. I gagged and folowed Hana-chan to the exam room.

Hanaha swung open the double doors of room 301 and we both gasped. The room was full of people from all the different villages and there had to be at least a few hundred people in there. Everyone (meaning team Kurenai and team Asuma) were already there. Team 7 and Akirai joined us a short while later, and the exchange between the three teams caused quite a commotion such that a silver-haired guy called Kabuto came over to scold us. Then he took out some cards that apparently contained information gathered of all the ninjas participating in the exam. Sasuke requested to see Rock Lee and Gaara's info.

_Returned from all his missions without a scratch huh? _

**Indeed, Shukaku must be doing a fine job protecting—no, more like pampering—Tanuki-kun. And that will probably do more harm than good to the boy… **I didn't bother questioning her what she meant. And even after all the warnings Kabuto gave us about the ninjas participating in the exams, Naruto just had to yell out in his usual spirited way, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I won't lose to you bastards! You got that?" Hell, even Akirai who had the same hyper attitude as Naruto knew better than to make turn everyone in the room into enemies.

Then all of a sudden, a fight broke out in the room. Two Hidden Sound ninjas were now attacking Kabuto. In my opinion as well as Yami's, Kabuto didn't seem like someone I'd like. However, I found myself hating the Sound nin even more, after just one look at them.

"Sound, eh?" said Akirai, smirking. After watching Sasuke and Lee's battle, she was getting more and more restless. And when she was so hyped up for a fight, it'd be pointless for me to stop her, so I sighed and waved her on.

Swift and silent, Akirai darted through the crowd of people like a bolt of electricity, the only sign of her presence is the ripple in the air after she had long gone. I watched as Kabuto dodged one of the sound nin's punches, and his glasses cracked. I thought of what Akirai had said earlier. The Sound nin indeed used sound as a weapon… but with in a storm, lightning always comes before thunder.

The fight did not last long when a loud explosion of smoke shocked everyone. When the smoke cleared, there stood a large group of shinobi, probably chuunins and jounins, with stern faces. Two of them reminded me of the two ninjas causing trouble outside the room 201 earlier on. **That's because they are, baka. **Oh. What the hell.

The one in the centre spoke up, "Thanks for waiting, I'm Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the chuunin selecting exam's first test." Audible gulps were heard throughout the room and a few of us had cold sweat. Then the examiner raised a hand and pointed towards the sound nins. "Hidden Sound guys, stop doing as you please before the exam. Do you want to fail already?"

"I apologise… This is our first time…We got a bit carried away," said one of the sound nins. Then there was another explosion and electric sparks crackled. This time, when the air stopped rippling and warping, two of the sound nins looked like several of their nerves were fried, and the third one was sprawled on the floor—conscious, but shuddering and gasping. All three had frizzled hair that stood up. My guess was that they accidentally triggered a trap of some sort and got an electric shock. Akirai, who had managed to slip through the crowds back to our side unseen, was now giggling uncontrollably. Hana-chan chuckled. My guess confirmed. And it seems like Hana-chan and I were the only one who suspected Aki-chan of the prank. There were a few raised eyebrows around us. The examiner, thankfully, had not noticed Akirai's suspicious behaviour, and simply frowned at the electrocuted trio.

"Hmph. Here's a good opportunity to say this… No fighting without the permission of the examiner. Killing will not be tolerated. All pigs who disobey will fail immediately," Ibiki-san said. All of us fell silent.

"We will now start the first test in the chuunin exam. Instead of your current sitting arrangement, you will each pick one of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you. Then we will hand out the papers," he continued. We exchanged glances. Then Naruto voiced out our thoughts.

"WHAT? A WRITTEN PAPER?" cried Naruto, horrified. I sighed, pitying team 7.

I took my seat, which was uncomfortably close to Gaara's, and looked at the test papers that was given out. Oh, this was getting worse and worse. I wasn't stupid, no, I was smart, but the questions were out of my league. There were a few rules to this test, namely, each question cost one mark; the marks will be counted as a team score—so each team will start of with 30 marks; should anyone be caught cheating by the testing officers will have two marks deducted for each offense, and anyone who loses all the marks in the test will fail and be asked to leave along with their two teammates. Of course, once I noticed that I was unable to answer many of the questions, cheating was the first solution I could think of. Afterall, the rules only applied when you're caught cheating… they didn't say you couldn't cheat. However, how was I going to cheat without getting caught? If I could use Yami, that's be easy, but the Hokage specifically told me not to do so.

I sat that doodling on my paper, watching the other people cheating, watching other people gat caught cheating, watching as Naruto stupidly declined Hinata's offer to cheat… Hanaha was using miniscule plants to spy on other people's answer—I even saw a tiny flower sprout in front of me, inclined its petals towards my blank paper, then its petal wilted in such a way that it resembled a disapproving expression… as disapproving as a flower can get. Meanwhile, Aki-chan was using electricity to first get a picture of someone else's answer, than reproducing it in front of her in a near-invisible holographic image. Soon I found sand disturbing my vision. Frowning, I tried to rub it away.

**Looks like someone hasn't been able to get any answers eh? **Shukaku's voice came echoing into my head. When I my eyes got used to the irritating sand, thanks to my previous experience in Suna, I saw an eyeball made of sand floating in front of me staring at my paper. I glanced at Gaara who was now staring back at me. I quickly looked back at my paper.

_Hey, you know the answers, don't you? _My last-ditch effort: asking a selfish sand demon for help.

**Shukaku—**Yami started to say, but she didn't even need to complete her sentence. In less than a second, Shukaku dragged me to my inner world and showed me an image of the answers. Yami had a photographic memory, so a second was all we needed to obtain the information I need. _Thanks a lot, Shuka-chan~ _I got the satisfaction of hearing the demon gag before his mental presence left.

**He wasn't the only one disgusted by your choice of words, kay? **I mentally thanked Yami, smiling at the fact that even though the Hokage told me not to use her abilities, it was with Yami's help that I got Shukaku's cooperation.

After I filled up the questions, I realised that there was one question missing.

The tenth question.

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**That's all for now. Next chapter may take awhile. Give me a month, cuz my exams are coming up... urgh. Anyways, review!**


	12. Chapter 12: Second Test

**Finally this chapter is up! Sorry guys for taking so long to update! I promise ya the next chapter will come up in about a week! Once again, gomenasai! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Here's the chapter, enjoy!**

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Chapter 8: The Next Test

_"A superior pilot uses his superior judgement to avoid situations that require the use of his superior skill."_

The tenth question. Go for it and if you can't pass it, you'll stay a genin forever. If you don't go for it, you may leave and take the exam again next year. Several people left the room. I looked at Akirai, who was relaxing in her seat with her eyes closed, in fact, she looked like she was sleeping. Then I looked at Hanaha who wasn't paying attention and playing with a flower in her hands. I sighed. If my teammates weren't going to bother, then I was going to follow suit. So I retreated into my inner world and had a game of shogi with Yami. I was brought back to my surroundings and away from my chess game when Naruto slammed his hand on his table top so hard that the sound reverberated through the room. I watched, startled, as he proclaimed in his usual fashion that he didn't care if he fails and remain a genin forever and that he'll still become Hokage anyways. Ah well, I guess Naruto will always be Naruto.

After his outburst, no one else left, all encouraged by his 'speech' and the examiner then dropped the  
bombshell.

"What kind of exam question was that anyways?" asked Hana-chan. I sighed. We were now on our way to the second exam and Hana-chan was sulking beside me. Aki-chan on the other hand, was very glad that she slept through the question. She woke up during Naruto's outburst, and even then, she was half-asleep. She was only fully awoken when a loud woman named Anko burst into the room calling us maggots and scolding Ibiki-san for having so many participants left. I agreed with Hanaha though, and pitied those who quitted. I mean, they could have passed that test if they had just stayed in their seats instead of having to retake it again the next year. But I guess that was the purpose of the test, as Ibiki pointed out.

Practice Arena #44 was the location of our next test. A crowd had gathered outside the fenced off area. Was it just me or did this place look familiar?

"Welcome to the stage for the second exam, Practice Arena #44," our next examiner, Anko said. "And also known as the forest of death!" Talk about drama. All around us was hushed whispers but mostly silence. I guess the place did have a creepy atmosphere. The way Hana-chan's face light up when she saw the forest was creepy too.

"You'll soon find out why it's called the Forest of Death," Anko continued. Then Naruto mocked whatever she just said and to top it all, accompanied it with a... dance of some sort. Oh Naruto... Sometimes... Sigh.

"You think that scares me? I'm not afraid!" announced the blonde idiot. I really felt like stuffing my fist into his mouth to save him from embarrassing himself further.

"Yeah, you're spirited. But kids like you get killed quickly..." Anko replied smoothly, with a smile on her face. Then she threw a kunai at him which sliced his cheek. Now why does she suddenly remind me of a certain demon currently chuckling at the back of my head? Especially when she appeared behind Naruto and licked the blood from the wound on his cheek. You could hardly blame the boy for having such a stunned expression on his face.

Aki-chan made a gagging sound when a grass nin stuck out an extremely long tongue to return the kunai to Anko.

**Honestly, I'm centuries old and yet I've never seen a tongue as long as that before…** Yami commented. I was surprised. _Surely some snakes have really long tongues? And I bet you have an even longer tongue than that if you wanted to. _

**The tongues of shadows can stretch for miles, Kurai-ko. And anyways, I meant I've not seen a tongue that long coming from a human. Except maybe Orochimaru. But then again, he's just a paedophilic snake… not really considered a human… what do you think?**

_… I've never even seen him before… how would I know? You should ask my mother instead. Or her assassins. I'm sure one of them―_someone passed me a piece of paper. I stared at it blankly.

"You're supposed to read it then sign it. It's something about them not being responsible for our deaths. Sheesh, you sure miss a lot of stuff while having a little chat with that lil' demon of yours," Hanaha said to me as she signed hers. For a moment there, she reminded me of a cross between Shikamaru and Temari-san. I sighed, took her pen and signed mine, not bothering to read the damn thing. No matter what Anko said about the place being called the Forest of Death and all, I seriously doubt any one of us will die in there.

"Ne, Chii-kun~" said Aki-chan in a voice that reminded me of a certain 'youthful' green monkey, then she proceeded to lower her voice into a whining whisper, "Since we'll be entering the forest of death, we'll be so-called facing 'life-and-death' stuff, so will you be allowed to use your shadows? I mean the Hokage―"

"―Should allow you to use Yami when your life is on the line, though I doubt it'll happen. By the way, I think I've been in there before," Hanaha finished Akirai's sentence. These two can really read each other's minds (and mine too.)

"Well shadows are discreet afterall, so as long as the other teams don't find out... " I replied wryly. "But what do you been you've been in there before?"

"I sneaked in to research on some lovely plants," Hanaha said. I had a feeling that her 'lovely' meant 'lethal'.

"Hey me too!" Akirai admitted. "I needed somewhere to test out some of my explosives so..."

So it wasn't just me. Each one of us had sneaked in illegally to do something before. I almost couldn't believe the absurdity of our team. Then Hanaha filled me in on what I had missed from Anko's speech. Apparently, there was a tower in the centre of the forest arena, 10 kilometres away from the gates. All of us may have snuck in for whatever purpose before, but none of us have ever wandered more than a kilometre from the entrance.

We handed in our agreement forms to the people in the covered booth and one of them passed us a heaven scroll. Now who should be in charge of keeping it? Hana-chan took the scroll. I had a feeling that the scroll would end up in the stomach of some bulbous Venus flytrap of hers sooner or later. But it'll be safe there. As long as it doesn't get digested that is.

We were led by a random ninja to our gate and the blasted journey took 20 minutes. Aki-chan kept wanting the ninja to go faster but he didn't. I guess the only guy who would run faster than the speed we were travelling would be Gai-sensei. We reached gate number 17 with 10 minutes to spare. The gate confirmed it. I had definitely used the shadows to get past a similar gate before. It shouldn't have been too difficult for Hana-chan to get a plant from within the forest to lift her over the fence either, and Aki-chan would have just climbed over like a normal ninja would. Then again, no sane ninja would try to sneak into such a place.

At half past two, Anko announced the start of the second test and the ninja who led us to our gate unlocked it, swinging it wide open for us. Once in the forest, we slipped into the cover of the shadows. A large carnivorous plant sprouted at Hana-chan's feet, swallowed our scroll and disappeared back into the soil.

"Hey, are you sure it's gonna return that scroll back to us once we're done?" I asked, a little doubtfully. She gave me the I-can't-believe-you're-asking-me-this-question look. I sighed. "Fine. I'm going to get us the second scroll. Keep an eye on Aki-chan will ya?"

"Sure. What harm could she possibly do?" she replied, then glanced at our teammate who was setting an ant test on fire. She hastily amended,"Other than sending the entire forest up in flames, I mean."

I laughed and waved as I walked off. Now I just had to find a team with the earth scroll. Sounds easy enough.

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... Akirai's POV...

"Hana-chan~!" No response. I poked her again. Hana-chan had been staring at this shiny red, orange and green plant for some time now. And the plant was doing nothing! Nothing at all! And Chii-kun had disappeared, but I couldn't get Hana to tell me where she went cuz she's just crouching there like a stone statue watching a bloody plant! This time I jabbed my finger at the damn plant. It's all your fault you stupid plan-

"OW OW OW OW OW!" the plant bit me! Small mouths with teeth appeared on its stem when I jabbed it and it bit me!

"Aki-chan! What on earth were you trying to do!" Hana-chan asked me in this almost reproachful tone, except that she had this amused look on her face. What? So she finally speaks and she scolds me!

"Where is Chii-kun~!" I whined, sucking my poor bleeding finger. She stared at me. Then she stared at the ground. Then at the sky. Then at the forest around us. Then-

"Ano... She's gone to get the heaven scroll," Hana-chan mumbled a little reluctantly. Gone to get the other scroll? Without me? She's gonna take on another team without letting me fight? That's not fair!

"Okie then! See ya, I'm off to find her and you can't stop me!" I said to Hana-chan and ran off before she could send some creeper vines after me. The problem is, I may be the fastest in the team (excluding Yami-chan), but I wasn't the best in sneaking and tracking down people, let alone shadows. Nevermind, I'll just follow my nose. Blood was easy enough to track and Chii-kun can't be too far... Right?

I found Chii-kun standing in a clearing some time later, saw three bloody ninjas lying on the ground before her, and three other ninjas standing two metres away. I couldn't tell what village the unconscious shinobi were from, but the other team of genins were from the Hidden Rain, and all three of them looked petrified. I was furious.

"CHII-KUN! How could you? Half of them are unconscious and the other half are zombified! You didn't give me the chance to-"

"Set the entire place on fire? Disintegrate the entire clearing to ash? Or blow the entire forest up?" Chii-kun calmly interrupted me. Well, she had a point... But still! Why couldn't have let me have a bit of fun with the other teams. Mess with them a little. I wonder what she did though. Judging from the faces of the Rain team, I had a feeling that even if Emo Uchiha wore a tutu and danced in front of them, they'd still be standing there paralyser with fear. Wait, an Uchiha wearing a tutu would probably be scarier than whatever Yami-chan or Chii-kun could possibly come up with.

"Aki-chan? Aki-chan... Ryuusei Akirai!"

"Hai!" I cried, alarmed. Chii-kun was staring at me with an exasperated look on her face. I repeated a little more softly, "Hai?"

"... ... We've got the scroll we need. Let's go back and find Hana-chan."

"Eh? Then what about those three?" I asked. "Can I 'put them out of their misery' for you? Can I blow 'em up? Or electrocute them? Or burn them? Can I? Can I?"

"No. What's the point of giving them nightmares if they can't enjoy them? Dead people feel no pain you know," she says in reply. And then she gives me her Yami-smile. The smile that would put Anko-san's to shame, the smile that was probably what zombified those three ninja. I gave her a puppy-dog face. I swear I saw her eye twitch.

"Oh leave them be, they've got only one scroll on them anyways. I checked. So if they survive getting another scroll from someone else, though I doubt it, then you can always get a chance to fight them later in the exams."

"But why not now? What if someone else kills them first?" I don't why I bother. Arguing with Chii-kun is like arguing with a wall. Yep, a wall. See? She didn't even bother answering me and now she's walking away! What? Is she gonna leave me, the one with no sense of direction, here? Hmph! Then I shall just go ahead and kill those damn ninjas before following her. I took a step towards the ninja, then tripped and fell. Then felt myself being dragged on the ground by-what? My own shadow? Chii-kun is just too smart for my liking.

"Alright! I'm coming! No need to drag me all over the-"

"Really? Okay then~"

"Gyaaah!" her smiling Cheshire-cat face was too close. Too close. Inches from my own in fact. How did she appear in front of me like that? In the end, I ended up being dragged by her anyways. I realized that being the fastest on your team doesn't help when your arm is constantly being pulled out of it's socket.

We found Hana-chan right where we left her. Except that she was now sleeping under a tree, surrounded by strange colorful plants that looked really poisonous. We woke her up-I yelled into her ear-and gave her the second scroll which she fed to the same python-ish plant that swallowed our first scroll. At least this plant didn't have teeth.

"So what happened?" Hana-chan asked us, regarding the retrieval of the scroll.

"Well there were two teams of ninja, one from Ame and one from Kumo, who were fighting. So I took the opportunity to steal the Earth scroll from the Kumo team before the Ame nins could get it," Chii-kun said.

"Yeah and zombified the Ame team! Chii-kun wouldn't let me burn them or anything. And once they awake from their petrification, their gonna go run into another team and get themselves killed before I can kill them first!" I added, irritably. The annoying part was when Hana-chan seemed to find what I said funny. These teammates of mine... Neither of them seem to find anything incendiary fun. Maybe it's cuz Hana-chan controls plants and Chii-kun controls shadows and paper. Now I wish that blonde onii-san from Iwa was here. He was the one who taught me about explosives. (A/N: Anyone can guess who this blonde Iwa guy is? She can't remember his name though, cuz she was quite young then. Lolz)

"By the way, I think we should get out of here soon," Chii-kun said calmly. Suspiciously calm I'd I say. Both Hana-chan and I looked at her curiously and she pointed behind us.

Shit. Shit. Shit. How can that girl be so calm when there are giant leeches the size of a large dog creeping up on us? And now there are giant scorpions chasing after us. There's a limit to how fast I can run too you know. And what kind of creatures are these? Even Hana-chan's giant Venus flytrap is no match for them! And even with the shadows constantly swallowing and eating several at one go, more keep coming! Plus their shells are so thick, only my level three-and-above fire/lightning/explosives work on them!

* * *

... Back to normal POV...

We've been running for some time now and those bloody creatures are still coming! No.. Wait. I held up a hand and all three of us halted. The creatures behind us were silent now. We turned around just in time to see a giant spider creep into view, it's abdomen facing us, it's mandibles facing-eww... Nevermind. Best to get away before the spider sees us and decides to have us for dinner too.

**You know, that's hardly possible. I wouldn't allow it.** Yami's voice. Finally! She awakes from her lovely hibernation! But does it count as hibernation if she sleeps in the heat instead of the cold?_ #%£?€$&¥! We could have used some help from you earlier you know! The hollow maws of your shadow-lings weren't enough to get rid of those creatures! Where was the gaping abyss of your royal highness when we needed it?_

***YAAAWWN*** So this is what Akirai meant by talking to a wall. Sigh.

**You sigh too much. Che'! **

"Ne, I think there's something up ahead," Hanaha said and we paused. "The plants sense a disturbance in the air."

Yes, the shadows were already stretching towards that dark aura that radiates negative energy. I could feel Yami's dark amusement.

"The tower's that way," Hana-chan said as she gestured to our right. "Should we just-"

"No. I wanna go check it out," Aki-chan announced. So we cautiously approached the source of disturbance. As we got nearer, I sensed the chakra of nine-nine?-people ahead and the chakra signatures were all familiar. Yami already knew who some of them were but she wouldn't 'spoil the surprise' as she put it. When we were about a metro away, I heard a familiar voice in my head.

**Oh. Why if it isn't the shadowtail and her team.** Shukaku! Then that means... We reached a clearing and as we peered through the undergrowth, I saw a) Kiba's team a metre to our left, b) Gaara's team standing in the middle of the clearing facing c) the Ame team from earlier. Akirai then hit me with a fist and gave me an I-told-you-so face.

"See? Now they're gonna get killed by that desert boy of yours. You should've allowed me to do the honors earlier!" I ignored her. The leader of the team (and also the tallest of the team) had begun to speak.

"How foolish... Sand brat... Challenging us head on like this..." the guy said in a taunting voice. "You'll die."

Well what do you know, Aki-chan was right-I should have killed him earlier. It seems like I should have at least left them with a lovelier nightmare. And now, I just want to wring that disgusting neck of his.

"Enough talking. Let's do it... Old man from the Hidden Rain," Gaara said. Short, simple, straight to the point. 'Old man from the Hidden Rain'? Ha! Yami's exclamation was followed by mad laughter coming from the two demons that I could hear in my head.

"Gaara! It's best to get some information first!" yelled the puppet-master. I may not like him very much, but he's got a point. The Ame team may hold the same scroll as them and it'd be pointless to fight. I knew from our previous encounter that their team needed the earth scroll. That could either mean they have the heaven one or... No scrolls at all. And I do not know which scroll Gaara's team needed.

"It doesn't matter," said Gaara. Huh? What doesn't matter? Gathering info or what? Puppet-boy just voiced out your thoughts about pointless fighting. Oh. That's irritating. I don't want to have the same thoughts as that poor excuse of a brother.

"All who meet my eyes must die," continues Gaara, his eyes were cold and his voice expressionless. I could feel the tensed silence of my teammates when he said this, and the shock displayed upon the faces of the Rain nin and Gaara's siblings were obvious. I myself tensed involuntarily too. I have met his eyes countless of times before, when he was still my Desert Boy, and once more when his team first arrived in Konoha. I'd probably deserve to be killed though, and if anyone were to kill me, I'd rather it be him, but I wasn't going to let myself die anytime soon. If he wanted to kill me, he'd have to wait till he becomes Kazekage first. As it is, his chances of becoming Kage is as slim as Naruto's but I don't care.

"Bah! Let's do it then. Here I come!" shouted the Rain nin as he drew out three umbrellas that were on his back, and spun them open. Does he not value his life? Did my warning smile not prove to him that underestimating your opponent would lead to his downfall? Or did he think Gaara's gonna go easy on him as I did? Who was the foolish one now? The idiot threw his spinning umbrellas high into the air and some funny hand sign. Then thousands of needles began shooting out from the umbrellas. I heard Kiba gasp from below us.

"Flying needles..." Aki-chan and Hana-chan both whispered at the same time in a tone I could only describe as reverent. I had a feeling that once they got the time, Akirai's explosives are gonna have a new component added to them and Hanaha's thorny plants were gonna get a hell lot more dangerous than before. Needles? Sigh.

"HAAAA!" yelled the Rain nin as he stretched out his hands and the needles swirled in a hurricane-like manner towards Gaara. "There is no escape from this jutsu! Plus all these needles are controlled by my chakra to strike their prey!"

As the needles all shot towards Gaara at once, I couldn't help but feel worried. My heart was drumming against my chest as I watched the boy I still cared for get attacked by lethal needles. Of course his sand shield would protect him, even if I couldn't-hell, I'd give Shukaku the worse nightmare of his demon life if he allowed Gaara to get hurt. Do you hear that, you bloody raccoon-dog?

There was an explosion of sorts, when the needles rained down on Gaara. When cloud, smoke, dust and sand billowed out, a soft low whistle escaped Akirai's lips. I hit her lightly on the head before continuing watching the scene unfold. As the smoke cleared and the sand and dust settled, a crude thick shield of sand could be seen with long needles sticking out all over-giving it the appearance of an odd porcupine-and through a large fissure in the sand shield, Gaara could be seen calmly standing there as if nothing had happened at all. He didn't get hurt. He didn't get hurt. Hedidn'tgethurt. Hedidn'tget-of course he didn't get hurt! Shukaku wouldn't allow it. He has never been hurt before and probably won't get hurt ever. But he has. He has been hurt internally, mentally, emotionally, and that was so much worse and so much harder to heal than the 'ai' kanji tattooed on his forehead with his own sand.

"Is that it?" Gaara asked from within his shell of sand. The Rain nin looked shocked, surprised that his 'ultimate attack' didn't work at all. There wasn't a single scratch on Gaara. Pathetically, the Rain nin tried to shoot a few more needles at Gaara but the sand around the fissure in the sand shell moved to block the needles. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the pitifulness of the Rain nin. They were really unlucky to have met the Sand team after escaping from Akirai and I.

"That sand of his is amazing," Hana-chan whispered to me. Aki-chan just continued sulking.

"It comes from his gourd, and protects him with or without his control cuz of Shukaku the demon of the desert, the Ichibi," I explained. Hanaha gave me a weird look.

"Kinda like your shadows and Yami then? Except that-"

"Except that Yami doesn't 'pamper' me the way Shukaku does to his host," I finished for her. "Cuz Yami thinks that a little physical pain would benefit me."

"Well, probably... The more pain you experience, the more pain you'll be able to endure, so in a sense, you become stronger... Right?"

I didn't have time to answer, because I heard Gaara speak again, and what he said would probably stay imprinted in our memory, and perhaps Kiba's team's memory, for years to come.

"A rain of needles eh? Then I guess I'll make it rain blood... A strong odor of blood."

I quickly returned my focus to the scene before us, just in time to see the stupid Rain nin yelling and running towards Gaara before sand engulfed the panicking Rain nin in a Desert Coffin and as the genin struggled and cried, he was quickly killed with a clench of Gaara's fist: Desert Funeral. It did rain blood. Lots of blood...

Gaara stood under the umbrella once belonging to the now dead Rain nin, sheltering himself from the splatter of blood. Staring ahead emotionlessly, he said, "No suffering... Because I killed him so quickly, he didn't have time to experience it. The corpse's bitter crimson tears flow and mingle with the endless sand, filling the chaos within me - and making me stronger." This brought out a 'hmph!' from Akirai-who was undoubtedly thinking about similar ways she could have used to kill that ninja if I hadn't stopped her- and a chuckle from Yami and Hanaha. The lot of us and the Sand team were probably the only ones who weren't really affected by the way Gaara killed the Rain nin. It really wasn't the Rain nin's death that I minded-it was the cold-bloodedness in Gaara when he killed the nin that I was upset about.

**Funny, seeing how you wouldn't care less if you saw Firefly gleefully kill that same nin with one of her lovely lethal fireworks,** commented Yami. Then Hanaha proved Yami's point by whispering, "What kind of guy is he? Killing that ninja like that! So cold! He should at least show some satisfaction after killing that rainy dude if he wanted to kill him so much."

It actually just occurred to me that our team was quite strange in a sense... And contradictive too. Does it make sense for someone to be really sadistic and yet love candy and cute animals? (that would be Aki-chan, by the way) And now she's getting worked up over the fact that Gaara went on to kill the other two Rain nins, giving her no opportunity to do the honours later.

"You know, I think I quite like that fan-wielding sister. What's her name again?" Hana-chan suddenly whispered to me.

"Temari," I whispered back. "Why?"

"Did you see-no of course you didn't. You were in la-la-land. When the sand was going to crush the other two Rainies, Temari-san waved to them and said 'bye bye~'. It was hilarious, plus the tearful expressions on the ninjas' faces were priceless!" Hanaha explained. There was a stark contrast between the excited face of Hana-chan and the sullen glaring face of Aki-chan.

She looks cute when she's angry, Yami said. Yes, and scary too. It was always wise not to play with fire.

"Oh look! The Rain team's scroll is a heaven one, just like ours," Hanaha whispered. Indeed, and I wonder what would happen if we had a face-off with the Sand team instead of the Rain team.

"Shut up. I haven't had enough," Gaara said to Kankuro. Enough? Of what? Killing? Shit. I was pretty sure my team could escape the Sand team well enough, or let the shadows hide us, but if Gaara found Kiba's team... Wait. Judging from how Kankuro and Temari were now hastily trying to persuade their brother to leave with them, they must have already been aware of either our team, the team below us, or both. You could see the fear-frozen forms of Kiba, Hinata and Shino below us.

_Shukaku!_ I yelled in my mind, as i watched Gaara stretch out an arm in the direction of Kiba's team, his hand about to clench into a fist, all the while hoping that the demon could hear me.

**Yes?** Shukaku replied. Was that a slur I detect in his voice? It was as if he had gotten drunk on the blood spilled by the Rain nins.

_Shoo! Go away! I think you're quite drunk enough!_

**You sound like you're trying to chase a dog away. How rude.**

**But of course, you son-of-a-bitch. And I don't think I need to say please in order to-**

**Alright alright...** Shukaku muttered before Yami could finish her threat. Everyone sighed with relief when sand formed a cork in Gaara's hand and he used it to stopper the gourd of sand on his back. And as the Sand team left, Kiba's team hurriedly disappeared into the forest below us.

"What now?" Hana-chan asked.

"To the tower. Let's go," I replied. "Yami, now that you're awake, bring us there."

The shadows around us shifted and solidified into a giant dragon-like beast with glowing red and blue eyes. The swallow gave us a smirk and with a beating of silent wings, it swept us off our feet and we ended up riding in a current of darkness.

When the darkness cleared, and the shadows retreated, we found ourselves standing before the tower. We stepped into the building and found ourselves in a large cavernous space with more than one level, balconies and corridors above, and such. A wordy sign was pasted on the wall at the end of the room. Hana-chan summoned out her carnivorous plant and it burped out the two scrolls we let it keep (gross!) After exchanging a few nervous glances, we opened up both scrolls at the same time. As soon as smoke began to swirl out from the scrolls, we instinctively dropped the scrolls. What was this? A summoning jutsu?

A shadowy silhouette appeared in the smoke, and when the smoke disappeared, standing before us was the chuunin that led us to our gate earlier that day. Huh? What was going on?

"I can't believe you kids made it here so fast." That was the first thing the guy said to us. Then he stared at Aki-chan. "Then again, I guess I really shouldn't be surprised..." Looks like he still remembered being chased by the firefly in our team to go faster even when we were already running at 15 kilometers an hour.

"Well, could you at least explain what's going on and what happens next?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"You passed. On the first day of the test too. So you'll have to wait for another four days before the test ends," the chuunin said.

"Okaaay... So... What would have happened if we'd open the scroll before time?" Hana-chan asked.

"Then I'd have to render you guys unconscious till the test is over," the guy answered. I somehow doubted that'd be possible if he is summoned into the stomach of a plant, which might have happened if the plant accidentally unravelled the scroll by itself.

"Is it just me or is there a word missing from that sign up there?" Aki-chan inquired. All of us stared at the writing on the wall. There was a word missing.

"Oh. That's the motto of the chuunin, written by our Hokage," the guy explained. "Basically, the 'heaven' in this text refers to the mind, while 'earth' refers to the body. It means that if you lack in mind, gain knowledge and gather information. If you lack in body, let's say, stamina, then train harder. And those who have both 'heaven' and 'earth' will succeed even in the most dangerous mission."

"Our scrolls! One was labelled 'heaven' and another labelled 'earth'! And only with both can we pass this test!" said Aki-chan, having seemingly been enlightened.

"You know, I think that was the only useful info that has come out of you and made sense so far," commented Hana-chan. The chuunin shot her an annoyed look.

"Anyways, the missing word is the 'person' word from your scrolls, and this last sentence is 'these rules that rill guide a person's extremes.'" the chuunin continued. "The purpose for this exam is to test for your basic abilities as a chuunin and leadership qualities. I'd advice you to keep the motto in mind when you take on the next part of the exam. Good luck."

Then he disappeared like the ninja he was. In the silence that followed, we exchanged more glances, wondering what were we supposed to do now. It was Akirai, the mischief-maker that came up with an excellent idea: explore the tower and spy on all the other ninja teams that enters the tower. This could potentially help us learn more about our future opponents. Of course, Aki-chan also planned to concoct some games and pranks along the way. The next four days were gonna be fun. But first, we got to check out who has arrived already (we later found out that we were the first to arrive) and check out all the crooks and crannies of the place. Then we split up and began our plan.

* * *

**That's all for now! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please review! Oh, and I've been editing my prev chapters and adding little quotes in front of each chapter. Just saying. Didn't realise how much typo errors I had...**


	13. Chapter 13: Memory IV

**Here's the next chapter... sorry its a bit late... by a week... Hope ya like it XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

* * *

Memory IV: Found

I have no name, nameless  
Without a face, faceless  
A shadow of a person,  
Invisible, forgotten.

I have a name, red  
Red like blood, red like fire  
And in the shadow of light,  
I am found, noticed, remembered.

Trees tower around me, over me,  
They prod me with their branches,  
They knock me with their boughs,  
Green silhouettes in the dappled sun.

Trees tower around me, over me,  
They welcome me in their branches,  
They protect me with their boughs,  
Green village in the dappled sun.

One two three, four five six  
They come to kill and be killed  
But those who fail, yet live,  
In failing, and living, befriend.

The blonde, the dark, the pink,  
The dog, the bug, the shy,  
The lazy, the glutton, the vain,  
Who are they, children nine?

The wind, the puppet, the sand,  
The rose, the firefly... And me  
Who were we, who are we?  
Friends lost and found, family.

_..._

_Trees. Lots and lots of trees. But unlike Kusa, this was a forest, not a jungle. I wandered in the forest for three days, daytime on foot and nighttime on Yami's back. _

_The first adult I met in Konoha was an old man. Well, not any old man, for he was wearing the robes of a Hokage. Funny how I literally ran into him after I had climbed over the walls of the village gates (it was nightfall and I really didn't want to speak to the guards guarding the gates.) As Yami said, I was an idiot. But the very fact that she didn't warn me about him had to count for something right? I trust her instincts. _

_**This is the guy who sent your family away from the village to hide from Them all those years ago,** Yami said._

_I counted. Seven years. I was turning eight this year. The old man, the Hokage, stared at me curiously before asking me what was I doing out in the streets so late at night without my parents. I didn't know what to answer him, so I stepped backwards and disappeared into the shadows. I saw him blink, look around, then his face had the most curious expression before he strolled off. I travelled around Konoha in the shadows-most of the time-from then on._

_The place was foreign to me-about as foreign as Suna was when I first stepped through it's gates. However, there would be a few occasions where a certain shop or certain street that seemed so ever slightly familiar. Each day in this village passed by in a certain eventful way, even though I kept Yami hidden from the people's knowledge-something which i had now gotten quite good at. _

_Day one, I got chased by a small puppy. No. I got chased by several small yapping puppies and a boy that seemed very much like a puppy himself. I was hiding in the shadows as usual, but my guard was down and one of the canines sniffed me out and decided to chase after me as it would to a kitten. I succeeded in evading them by what a cat would have done-escaping up a roof. Thankfully, the boy, who was around my age, didn't know how to climb or leap up walls yet. _

_Day two, I myself the target of a swarm of bugs. This was the second type of animal to have ever sensed my presence. Were all animals in Konoha so good at finding people who were good at hiding? This time, I had to go underwater and stay among the dappled shadows of the river and it's weeds until the bugs quit the chase. A shadow was cast in the water as someone looked over the riverbank before leaving. The shadows of the river weren't one of my preferred places to hide though, for it is always cold, wet and miserable-not good enough to provide sufficient shelter from observant people. At least I caught some fishes for dinner that day. _

_Day three, I ended up being target practice for two young dark-haired boys-one of them was around my age, the other was about four five years older than I was. Sometimes, the problem with hiding too well in the shadows is when people don't notice you and start throwing kunais at you, thinking that what they are seeing is just a tree and nothing more. But when I shifted myself to dodge the shurikens and kunais, one of them shot so close to me that I knew it couldn't have been accidental. I looked back at the two boys. The older one was staring right at me, and our eyes met. Wait, how did he even know I was there? I have decided that the living creatures of Konoha, be it human or animal, were all dangerous. The older boy was now pointing at me and the boy my age was also staring at me now. _

_**Uchihas,** Yami muttered in my head. _Huh? What?

_**They're a clan of people with a bloodline-limit, a kekkei genkai, called Sharingan.** Eh? _

**_Nevermind, you'll soon learn what it is... Uchihas... Interesting. The older one looks kinda-_**

No. Not tasty. Don't even think about it. Sigh._ This demon is exasperating. But the younger brother-they had to be brothers-looked kinda cute. I stuck out a tongue at him, picked up some kana that were lying on the floor and threw them at him. Each kunai shot around him, each missing him by an inch. When they shifted their focus away from the flying kunais back to me, I had disappeared-or rather, Yami had wrapped with a dense layer of shadow and whisked me away quickly. _

_**That was immature,** she said. Well, I was seven years old, so who could blame me?_

_Day four, I came across two girls, one blonde and one pink-haired (pink?) I couldn't tell if they were arguing or just having a heated conversation, but they seemed to be friends. Then both of them looked up at the same time. It was noon, and the shadows there were scarce except for in the trees, so I wasn't fully covered by the shadows. Next thing I knew, I was being chased by these two annoyed girls, apparently for a crime so minor, I was a bit freaked out by their intensity. Apparently, just being caught standing half a metre away from the Uchiha boy means certain doom. The girls in Konoha sure are scary. _

_**Ah, but you're also a 'girl in Konoha',** Yami commented lazily. _

_And I'm pretty sure I'm scary, what with Yami and all... And I'm also prone to being attacked by scarier people (the fact that these people are considered 'normal' makes them all the scarier) daily._

_Day five, I met a boy who reminded me of Yami-he ate so much! Sure, I can eat a lot. But he eats even more than I do! Plus, he was kinda plump. No, that was an understatement. _

_**He's fat. **Short, blunt and frank. And Yami just had to say that aloud. But of course, everyone knows shadows don't speak... So who do they blame for speaking? The person in the shadows-me. This was my fourth time being chased around Konoha, this time by a furious plump boy who took offense in what Yami said. Well of course he did. Who wouldn't get angry when being called 'fat'? All this running was really training my stamina. Thankfully, I managed to lose him in the crowd and retreated back into the shadows where I'll be safe-except that even the shadows doesn't seem to provide much of a shield these days. _

_Day six, I bumped into another girl while looking for food. This girl had dark hair cut into a cute bob and pale eyes. And she had a cute blush. After muttering a "Gomenasai" she hurried away. Finally! Someone who didn't try to kill me when they meet me! The funny thing was, almost all these attackers of mine were around my age. _

_**Another clan with a kekkei genkai!** Huh? _

_**That girl's a Hyuuga. She has the Byakugan eyes!** ... I shall not bother asking her what that means. _

_That day, I met another boy my age who gave no inclination of wanting to attack me, probably because he was just sitting on a bench staring at the sky. He looked really lazy. In the end, I spent the rest of my afternoon with that boy watching the clouds and making idle conversation. What a pleasant change. It was nice to be out in the warm sun, enjoying the breeze and not having to run off because someone or something was after me. It has really been a long time since I last relaxed and hung out with someone. In fact, this was the second person I have ever hung out with before, the first being... ... ... Sigh._

_I found out his name was Shikamaru, and he could do some stuff with shadows too. He didn't pry either, which was nice. But he did ask if I intended to join the Academy. I told him that learning to be a ninja would be kinda cool. We both agreed that that'd be kinda troublesome too. I like this guy already. _

_It has been week since I arrived in Konoha. The seventh day was also the most eventful. On this day, I met three people. The first was a blonde boy with markings on his cheeks. He was running and laughing and crashed into into me as we both rounded a corner in an alleyway._

_**Oh! Kitsune Kurama. It's been awhile,** Yami said while chuckling as the boy and I crashed into each other. I had a feeling she wasn't talking to me though. _

_**Ryuu Yami. Is this your new host?** The answer came as an echo, similar to what Shukaku sounded like in my head when we were in Suna. Kitsune? I looked at the boy. So this boy had to be the host of the Kyuubi. And Kurama must be his name. _(A/N: By the way, Kurama _is_ the name of the Kyuubi~ its mentioned in the latest chapter scan of Naruto, for those who haven't read it yet)

_**Hai! And she's my best host yet. Been with her since she was a few months old,** Yami replied cheerfully. Wait, so Yami was a dragon? She always appeared in the form of a nekomata, so I never found out what her real form was but... A dragon? A ten-tailed dragon? _

**_That's more than eight years. Not bad. She looks like you in human form too. Except for the eye color. Such violet. Is she-_**

Hey, stop talking as if I'm not here. What's this boy's name?

_**... Naruto. You're quite an interesting kid, I'd say. And by the way, I don't think the boy knows of my existence yet,** the Kyuubi said wryly. Poor boy._

_"Ehehehehe~" chuckled the boy, Naruto, sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Gomenasai."_

_"Ah. Daijoubu. Be more careful next time," I simply replied, even though I knew that it wasn't really his due to his carelessness that we collided. The boy happily nodded and was about to continue running off, but he paused. _

_"Ne~ are you new here?" he asked me, curiously. _

_"Umm... Yes? I came here just one week ago," I replied, while trying to analyze Naruto's character. Cheerful. Hyperactive. Friendly._

_**Loud. Mischievous. Reckless**, added the Kyuubi irritably... Yami went into fits of laughter. _

_"Oh! Okay, I gotta go now. See ya around!" the boy said. "Wait, what's your name?"_

_"Akuma-chan! Hurry! Get him!" yelled a voice which I recognized. Running down the street towards Naruto was a girl with short spiky gold-brown hair and fiery amber eyes. The same girl I met two years ago in Iwa. Behind her was her companion, the girl with long pale-blonde hair and emerald eyes. I looked back at Naruto who was already making a dash for it. I had no doubt that 'Akuma-chan' was referring to me and that I was supposed to help them catch the boy. Reaching out with tendrils of shadow, I caught the boy's shadow and trapped him there. _

_"Tag!" shouted the fire-girl as she pounced onto the boy. "Yo, Akuma-chan. Didn't expect to see you again." _

_"Hey, your eyes are different from the time we last met!" exclaimed the rose-girl. I grinned. Two more people who haven't tried to kill me in Konoha, though they did try to in Iwa. _

_"Oh yeah! Weren't they red and blue last time? Now they're violet!" Fire-girl agreed. _

_"First of all, what are you guys doing here?" I asked. _

_"Our parents died last year and left us in the Hokage's care cuz even though I was born in Kumo and Hana-chan was born in Kusa, my mum and her dad are from here, and used to know the Hokage well," explained Fire-girl. "And now we're sharing an apartment two buildings away from Naruto-kun's"_

_"Oh. Okay..." I said, unsure of what else to say. Hana-chan must be the name of the rose-girl. How fitting. _

_"Ne~ what about you? And what's your name? I don't think we actually introduced ourselves last time... Hehe," the fire-girl said, sounding like a sheepish Naruto. I swear the two of them seemed to be getting increasingly similar the more I get to know them. _

_"Umm..." Now how should I answer her? I told Gaar-the people in Suna that I was called Kurai-ko by most. That was true... But now I was pretty sure that wasn't the name my parents gave me. 'Kurai-ko' was just a nickname, just like 'Akuma-chan'. _

_"Chizuki," a voice said from behind me. I turned around to see a tall guy. A tall old guy. The same one I saw when on my first night in Konoha. The Third Hokage. _

_He was smiling at us children and seemed a lot less... Intimidating in the daylight. I have a feeling he still remembered the night he found me in Konoha one week ago. And now I also have a feeling he knew that I had sneaked into the village that night. Was there a punishment for illegal entry into the village? Definitely. But a child should be excused... Right? I didn't want to be chased out of here just when the village has changed from somewhere unwelcoming into someplace wonderful. I had found friends here. _

_"I must say, I didn't expect to see you in this village again. And I definitely didn't expect to find you sneaking in by yourself at night after seven years of disappearance," the Hokage said. I stared up at him._

_"You sent my family away to hide," I said. I didn't mean to sound accusing-I wasn't blaming anyone-but I did. _

_"I expected to hear news from your parents over the years when you are in hiding, but I heard nothing. I didn't find out until a few days ago that right on the day you left, you were ambushed," the Hokage replied. "That wasn't supposed to happen. I must apologize. I'm quite surprised that after all that, you seem quite fine and well." _

_"I wandered around the different countries and villages for awhile. Yami looked after me. But a few months ago, I stayed with the Kazekage's youngest son in Suna," I said. "Then I left and came here."_

_"I see... Well now I'm obligated to have you in my care. You can stay here in Konoha. I'll arrange for you to stay with Hanaha and Akirai-The three of you will be given a new place to stay. The current apartment will be too small to hold all three of you. It appears the three if you have met before?"_

_"Yea... In Iwa," I said awkwardly. I wasn't sure how to react. I was being offered a place to stay! In Konoha! With the first two friends I'd ever made! As a citizen of Konoha! The others-Hana-chan, the Fire-girl I now knew was called Akirai, and Naruto-were all staringly blankly at the two of us. I don't think any of them expected to end up listening to all this. It occurred to me that all four of us were all orphans and the care for all of us were the Hokage's duty. _

_"Is that so? Well, do you have any... Questions or problems?" the Hokage replied with a strange expression I couldn't decipher. Was it curiosity or maybe wariness? I shook my head. "If not, then the three of you can move your new home tonight. The apartment should be ready by evening. Oh, and... Are you interested in joining the Academy?"_

_"The Academy? For shinobi?" I double-checked. Konoha seemed to be getting better every second. "Of course I am!"_

_The Hokage smiled. "Then I shall be enrolling you into the Academy tomorrow."_

_Tomorrow? Wow. I was going to learn to be a kunoichi! Next time I meet that idiot of a brother (that goes by the name of Kankuro and plays with dolls), I'm so gonna kick his ass! Aki-chan and the others were now congratulating me. Even Yami was cheering inside my head. _

_"All three of you have joined the Academy already?" I asked. _

_"We joined one month after we came to Konoha last year," Hanaha replied gaily. "We want to properly learn how to control our abilities."_

_"And learn all the cool things ninjas learn!" added Aki-chan. _

_"And I'm gonna become Hokage one day! Believe it!" crowed Naruto. This boy was so different from the other jinchuriki I knew. I'd say he's the opposite of... _

_**Gaara. His name is Gaara,** Yami reminded me. Yes, his name was Gaara, but somehow, I still thought of him as Desert Boy, the innocent friend I had whose naïveté was destroyed by everyone around him, including me. And what was I doing now? Wandering around and making friends, while he was stuck in a village that hated him with no friends at all. I wonder how's he doing now in Suna. It was likely he'd join their village's Academy too. Well, no point worrying now. We'll meet again one day, and maybe then I'll be able to correct my mistake... Or do as much correction as possible._

_Life is so sweet and beautiful, especially now when I've finally got so many friends, a proper home, a family. You tend to count three or four as a lot, when you previously had less than none, then gained one, only to lose that one later. I don't think I could have fully appreciated the joy of that moment when all four of us raced to the ramen shop, laughing and screaming, if I hadn't first lost my parents and had to live on the streets with a pleasant-enough demon for company. Honestly, if not for the bitterness and the sourness of life, the sweet would have no taste. _

_**... You know what? I'm going into hibernation,** Yami grumbled. I laughed. This was why I liked her: she cares nothing for joy but never does anything to dampen mine. _

Goodnight,_ I replied cheerfully. _Sweet nightmares.

_**Hmph. Make sure you don't kill yourself in too much happiness. You never know when you might actually laugh your head off-literally. I'd like to wake up and find my host still in perfect condition. **_

_Oh don't I just love her humour. I have a feeling her definition of 'perfect condition' doesn't include 'an almost constant state of bliss and euphoria' though._

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_**That's all for now~ Will update late next week~ Please review!**  
_


	14. Chapter 14: Tower Play

**School has started! So my updates might not be as frequent as before. Maybe in two weeks time? Hehe ^_^ And thanks to those people who reviewed! Anyways, i need to go kill someone right now, so here's your chapter and see ya!**

**Disclaimer: Please refer to the previous chapter if you really want a disclaimer.**

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Chapter 9: Tower Play

_"Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go."_

We waited in the dark. I was sitting on the ceiling, Yami's dark shadow hiding me from sight. Like those kind of windows where you can only look out-those looking in only see their reflection. Aki-chan was also on the ceiling, but at a different part of the building. In fact, so was Hana-chan. All of us were waiting, waiting for the next team to arrive.

After our exploration of the building (this had taken us half an hour), we decided it was time to do some stalking and info-gathering, or in our case, shadowing. Both Akirai and Hanaha were also rendered invisible by Yami's shadows. It was still kind of bright as the sun had yet to set outside the tower, so without Yami's help, it wouldn't have been really possible to stay unseen or unnoticed for long, even if we were on the ceiling.

I was the one nearest the tower's main doors, so when the next team arrived, I was the first to know. Any neccessary information would be relayed via Yami and her shadowlings. It wasn't long after we took our positions on the ceiling (around twenty minutes or so) when the next team arrived. I should have expected them. After all, we had watched them leave for the tower after getting their scroll and they would have arrived here before us if not for Yami. Hell, I think I'm starting to rely on my demon too much. The thing was, the team that arrived next also had a demon with them. A demon that could possibly sense all three of us hiding in the shadows.

**Nope, not possible,** Yami said. _Huh?_

**My shadows aren't ordinary you know,** she retorted, sounding insulted. **If I don't want anyone to know you're here, no one will be able to tell-not even if they are told beforehand your location. **

_Not even Shukaku?_I couldn't help but feel apprehensive as I watched the three Sand siblings open their scrolls. I remembered the last time I'd hidden under the bed in Gaara's house. He'd found me easily and dragged me out with his sand.

**Hmph. Not even that miserable excuse of a demon that has only one tail,** said Yami. **Besides, even if he did find us, it wouldn't matter. He won't let Tanuki-kun know. Not unless... Hehehe**

_... It's kind of amusing to see a demon like Shukaku cower and surrender when you threaten him,_ I commented. _By the way, why do you call Naruto 'Kyuubi-kun' but call Gaara 'Tanuki-kun'?_

**Because it would be a shame to call the boy 'Shukaku-kun.' Hmm... Maybe 'Ichi-kun'? Plus he reminds me of a red panda,** said Yami, as I watched the trio finish talking to the chuunin that popped out of their scroll. _... You really don't like that sand mongrel do you? And red pandas aren't the same as tanukis. _

**Mongrel?** Yami asked, sounding bewildered, which was extremely rare. I chuckled to myself. _Yeah, mongrel. See, Shukaku is a tanuki, right? That makes him a 'raccoon-dog' and that means he's like a cross between a dog and a raccoon. Hence, mongrel. _

**... Wow. I never thought of that myself. I'm so proud of you,** said Yami, still sounding slightly out-of-character. _Stop it. You're starting to sound disgustingly like Green Monkey Senior. _

**Oh look, they're leaving,**announced Yami. Sure enough, the three siblings were starting to make their way further into the tower. I silently followed them overhead. Not once did any of them seem to sense anything out of place nor did Shukaku's voice echo in my head.

Going about upside-down wasn't the most pleasant activity, but I soon got used to it. I wonder why I bothered to follow the Sand siblings though. Technically, I already knew quite a lot about them from my stay with their youngest brother. It doesn't matter that they would have improved, learned new techniques et cetera, but then shadowing them should be a job done by Aki-chan or Hana-chan who hardly know them. We could share whatever info we gathered later on tonight. Still, I found myself... I won't say I'm watching or analyzing or observing their every move... More like, I was engrossed... As if they were characters in a book and I was reading about them, thoroughly immersed in whatever they were doing... Especially Gaara.

They walked mostly in tensed silence-you could taste fear and sense wariness about them. No doubt the two elder siblings were afraid of the youngest one. I wonder, as I watched those cold eyes stare ahead, the pale face emotionless, blood red hair so different from his sibling's light brown and dark blonde, the kanji for 'love' etched on his forehead-a reminder to himself to love only himself, a symbol of the name he carried, self-loving carnage... I wonder what is it like to walk with two of your family, who would rather be anywhere else except beside you, but have no choice but to stay in fearful silence, afraid that one wrong word would be their death. I have been feared by many before, but those were just random civilians-strangers that don't matter. I don't have siblings... Nor any proper family... But I imagine a 'family' should be something like the group of friends I have here in Konoha. A 'parent' should be someone like Iruka-sensei or Kakashi-sensei... Or even Green Monkey Senior-even though I think the relationship between Gai-sensei and Lee-san is a bit extreme. And a sibling, I would think, should be someone like Aki-chan or Hana-chan or Naruto-kun. I had long since considered my mother as 'family'-she's just a stranger who enjoys sending me killer birthday presents, that's all. But the difference between her and Gaara's father is that one of them is now considered a missing-nin while the other is the Kazekage. Now I really wanted to throw a rock at Kankuro.

**... What about Wind-cutter?**Yami asked. She sounds amused for some strange or twisted reason. Temari? Temari's fine... Or maybe I'm just biased.

**Well,** said Yami, chuckling. **You could get Firefly to arrange a trap for Puppet-boy. Something simple and subtle. No need to let them know someone's already in the tower with them. **

_You must be kidding... Subtlety is so not Aki-chan's forte. Hmm... I guess we could give it a try... But we'll have to make sure Hana-chan keeps an eye on her to prevent her from doing anything too dramatic..._

It was getting dark, hours had passed, but I still kept on following them. It really was interesting watching them, Kankuro's twitching fingers, Temari tucking stray hair behind her ears, the occasional muttered conversations... But by now, Aki-chan was with me, trying to analyze them to prepare for her little mischief. The shadows were growing and they soon filled up the corridors and rooms of the tower, giving us more cover. We met Hana-chan later on. The Sand siblings were getting irritable as they wandered the tower with nothing to do and probably getting tired of walking around in complex circles. I don't know if they noticed the other team that arrived as it got dark, and it was evident the other team was hoping to remain unnoticed... You could tell that neither Kiba, Hinata nor Shino wanted to have another encounter with the Sand siblings. I suppose it'd be kind of creepy if you found yourself alone-to a certain extent-in a dark building with a team of Sand nins who could kill you at any moment, especially since the youngest member and apparent leader of the Sand team had just killed three other ninjas before your eyes and had even attempted to kill you and your teammates. Of course they didn't notice the pale-blonde-haired girl who was crawling swiftly and silently across the ceiling behind them like a lizard, the pale-blonde-haired girl who could also kill them easily with a single mutant Venus flytrap-but would not, will not and never will. Just as the puppeteer of the Sand team had no idea that there was a dangerous Firefly following him and planning his 'downfall'.

We exchanged silent gestures and 'switched teams'. Hanaha went with Akirai and followed the Sand nin, while I went over to the Konoha team instead. I took one more glance at Gaara's retreating figure, his large heavy gourd of sand slung over his back, then crouched behind Kiba's team and waited for them to get over their sudden fear of seeing the Sand nins. I could offer them protection of course, reassure them, let them know there was an equally-or more-dangerous demon on their side... But our team has decided to keep our presence unknown to all the other participants who passed this test until the five days were over.

_Yami, what would Hina-chan see when she looks up with her byagugan?_ I was curious. That bloodline limit should allow her to see my chakra-and maybe Yami's too, even if we were hidden from normal senses by the shadows.

**It'll be the same. All she'll see are shadows. Maybe suspicious shadows, but shadows all the same,** Yami said. I wasn't completely reassured, I'd never done this sort of stalking before. Who knows how Kiba's team might react if they found me shadowing them. It wouldn't matter if I were me or if I were Naruto or Shikamaru... If they were to realize that someone has been stalking them the whole time in this dark tower, they'd probably freak... And Hinata would probably faint.

**They should just be glad it's you stalking them and not a pervert or a pedophile,** Yami said. I cautiously bounded across the ceiling, following the team as they resumed their roam in the tower after getting over the shock of seeing the Sand siblings. With Yami's shadow and chakra enveloping me, I was granted, for the moment, the abilities of cats... And it also allowed me to go about on all fours with ease.

_... You don't mean Jiraiya and Orochimaru, do you?_ I ventured to ask. Yami just chuckled but said nothing in reply. Hell, just judging from the little bit of info Yami has told me about those two sannins, I was sure they'd be the last two people in the world I'd like to find stalking me.

All of a sudden, I heard some loud swearing coming from somewhere else in the dark tower. All four of us-Kiba's team and I-turned our heads in that direction, feeling kind of bewildered. Wait... I swear that was Kankuro's voice. Then whatever happened to him must be Akirai's doing. I wonder what kind of tricks is she playing on him at the moment. Kiba's team seemed unsure of whether they should carry on walking or find out what was going on. Obviously, they chose to ignore the swearing-I bet they didn't want to go find the only other team they know are in the tower, especially when one of them is in a bad mood (cursing and swearing ought to signify that one's in a foul mood.) Clever them.

_Hey Yami... I wanna borrow your eyes for a moment,_ I said. I knew that with Yami's sight, I could see what's going on at Aki-chan's. Curiosity killed the cat, but I wasn't a cat. Okay, maybe I will get killed... By laughing to death.

... Hanaha's POV...

This girl... Seems to have endless tricks up her sleeve... Why, she's like Naruto with the intelligence of Shikamaru! The corridors around us were now dimly lit, with a few flickering lights, and Akirai was taking the opportunity to play a bit with the lights, causing the light and shadows around us to shift. This cleverly done light play created optical illusions, making the distance and size of certain things change. Who knew she could be this artistic.

"!£&#%€$¥?" cursed Kanky, when he accidentally (but there was nothing accidental about this) walked into a wall a second time. Strangely enough (but it wasn't strange at all) his other two siblings did not seem to be affected by this phenomenon of moving walls. By this time, Temari was staring at her brother with a weird look, while Chizuki's Desert Boy's face was mostly expressionless other than a slight frown.

I decided to add to his humiliation. After what Chizuki has told us about Kanky, we've been pretty prejudiced against him. I let a small vine creep out from a crack in the floor, calculated the distance required, then made it twist it's way across the floor in front of Kanky, and as soon as he stepped onto it (as predicted) I enhanced it's growth. The small vine bulged and expanded into a large thick one in a millisecond, shifting and quivering as it grew and poor Kanky, who had shifted his weight onto the foot that had stepped onto the vine in that precise moment, ended up losing his balance and toppling onto the floor. The cause of this-the vine-was now quickly shrinking and retreating back into the crack on the floor. Evidence eliminated, it now appeared to his siblings that he had tripped on a smooth surface-something that shouldn't ever happen even to the most clumsy Suna shinobi. Unintelligible words tumbled out of Temari's mouth as she tried to regain her speech... The poor girl couldn't believe her brother was this clumsy. The other brother, Gaara, had crossed his arms in his usual manner and was now saying something to his elder brother in a quiet voice. I couldn't quite catch what he said but I could tell his words were blunt and cold though. It was impossible to tell in this dim light, but I swear Kanky looked pretty mortified.

Grinning, I turned to look at Akirai and saw that she was sitting on the ceiling rocking back and forth and shaking with silent laughter. I sighed softly and waited for her laughing fit to subside before the both of us continued stalking the Sand team. By then, the team was out of sight, but we caught up soon enough. Akirai snapped her fingers, and a light bulb blew. Amidst the small explosion, smoke and sparks, I heard more swearing from the team below-scratch that... The only one swearing was Kankuro, who had once again walked into another wall. I stared wide-eyed at Akirai-I can't believe she actually managed to make Kanky down there walk into a wall just by combusting a light bulb! She simply responded with an innocent what-can-I-say smile, a shrug of her shoulders and a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. She looked like cheeky imp.

Come on, she mouthed and scurried-yes, scurried like a squirrel-across the ceiling ahead of the Sand team. I followed her, wondering what was she up to this time. When we were quite a distance from the Sand team, she went over to a camera-wait, a camera? There have been people watching us this whole time? Why didn't I notice this earlier?-and disabled it. I looked on silently as she placed the camera, on the floor under a lamp where it's light could illuminate the now-unidentifiable-mangled-object, in full view of anyone who walks by. Then she scooted back up the wall and into the cover of Yami's shadows just as we heard soft footsteps and snatches of conversation. We watched as the Sand team walked into view, Temari lecturing Kanky about the stealth, reflexes and senses of a ninja while he rubbed his bruised nose. Well, at least it wasn't broken and bleeding... Yet.

When the team came across the remains of the camera on the floor, Kanky just had to kick it. I guess he was feeling really irritable and grumpy, so he took in out on some scrap metal that Akirai had purposely left on the floor. The metal thing just clattered about and suspicious, tiny, almost invisible electric sparks ran along the dead camera. I don't think Kanky noticed it though.

"What's that?" asked Temari, frowning a little. Kankuro looked at the object he just kicked.

"I don't know," he replied. No response came from their youngest brother.

"I wonder what's it doing here. I think it was originally something attached to the ceiling... Then it dropped and crashed onto the floor. This place is old, so I guess this sort of stuff is to be expected," muttered the sister. Kanky bent over.

"What could it have originally been?" he asked, looking up at Temari. She shrugged. Then he foolishly picked it up just as his sister opened her mouth in protest. Too late. Electricity buzzed as sparks flew and Kanky dropped the object in alarm. That was also... Too late.

I think some of his nerves were temporarily fried, courtesy of Akirai's ingenious trap, as he began twitching and jerking about like... A puppet. The irony of it all-a puppet master becoming a puppet (A/N: irony indeed. Anyone currently thinking of a certain young red-headed puppet-master missing from Suna?) Then all of a sudden, as if the strings of the puppet were cut, he collapsed limply onto the floor, with eyes as wide as daisy heads. Temari watched all this in alarm while Gaara just stood there frowning and slightly slack-jawed. Poor poor poor Kanky.

"Owwww..." groaned Kankuro. Temari had the most reproachful look on her face.

"You should know better than to carelessly touch an unidentified object lying on the floor! Especially one that could have contained left over electric current!" Temari said. Ah, so she noticed the tiny sparks when her brother had kicked the object earlier on.  
In any case, Akirai sure was clever when planning for this. Then it occurred to me that the third time Kankuro walked into a wall was just a distraction to slow them down, so that she had enough time to destroy the camera and put it in position. And the earlier walking-into-walls were all to build up to this point. And I had a feeling that even if Temari wasn't the careful person she was, I don't think she would have been electrocuted by the object. After all, Akirai's victim was Kankuro, not Temari or Gaara.

**My turn...** A soft silky voice said. Aki and I tensed. I watched with anticipation as shadows crept up from behind the Sand team and merged with Kankuro's shadow. I exchanged glances with Akirai. What did Yami intend to do? No. Not Yami. Sure, it was Yami's voice and Yami's shadow... But the chakra was Chizuki's.

Nothing happened. I watched curiously as the shadows retreated. I raised my eyebrow at the shadows, knowing Chizuki had borrowed Yami's sight to watching Kankuro's performance and could see me even if she weren't here. I felt a strange satisfaction radiating from the shadows. I could almost imagine Chizuki smirking to herself wherever she is now. I wonder what did she do. Guess I'll find out later.

We were done for now... That last electrical puppetry bit was the end of Akirai's set of tricks for him. I don't know what Chizuki did, but I assume it'll only take effect later on as I can't seem to see anything happening to Kanky at the moment other than adjusting to the side-effects of getting electrocuted. He had gotten up and was now limping beside his sister with an expression I can't describe. His face was kind of red though... Or was it the lighting? Nah, couldn't be. I glanced at Akirai and she shrugged, then gestured to the Sand team. So we continued to follow the Sand team to gather information, since our 'playtime' were over.

... Normal POV...

Later in the evening, a shinobi appeared in front of Kiba's team. He told them that rooms have been prepared for them to stay for the next four days. They followed the ninja (I can't tell if he's a chuunin or jounin) who led them down some dimly lit corridors that my team and I seem to have missed during our exploration of the place, telling them about the tower's facilities as he did so, then he stopped outside a door, unlocked it then handed Kiba the key. The room beyond was mostly bare, containing one single bed, a bunk bed, a desk positioned in between the beds, a single ceiling light and a window at the desk. There was also another door in the room which I assume must be the toilet door. When the team had entered their room, I was left outside with the shinobi. I had no intention of spying on them even when they're in their room.

"So... Where's the rest of your team?" the ninja said as he looked up. What? He was talking to me! Then I realised that I was illuminated by a nearby flickering lamp, and in edging closer to have a look at the room, I had abandoned the protection of the shadows. And it seems that Yami hadn't bothered to hide me from the shinobi either. Oh yeah. I suddenly remembered that the Hokage had told me not to use the shadows unnecessarily for the duration of the chignon exams.

"Umm..." I hesitated, then lept off the ceiling, somersaulted and landed in front of the shinobi like a cat. Yami's influence. "They're with the other team in the tower."

The guy gave me a weird look and a sigh. "With the other team or stalking the other team?"

"Stalking... But we're not stalkers... Most of the time..." I replied sheepishly. He simply shook his head and gestured for me to follow him. He led me to a room a few doors away from Kiba's.

"This is your room. Here's the key," he said and handed me the key. "I'm going to go get the other team. You heard what I told the previous team right?"

I nodded. He stares at me for a moment before disappearing. I wonder what that was all about.

Our room was identical to Kiba's. And when I opened the other door in the room, sure enough it was a bathroom, with clean floors, clean sink, a working tap and working flush, and a clean toilet bowl. All in all, not bad... And I can see a few different kinds of soap arranged along the ledge of the bathtub. Not bad at all...

Aki-chan and Hana-chan came later... While I was having a good bath. The room door was locked, so they had to wait outside. Fortunately for them, I was almost done when they arrived, so I quickly dried myself, got dressed, then went out to let them in. Both of them glared at me irritably, and in reply, I gave them a sweet, innocent grin. Hanaha rolled her eyes and sighed, lips quirking into a smile. Akirai, on the other hand, pouted. I chuckled. I will always be me. Hana-chan will always be Hana-chan. And Aki-chan will always be Aki-chan.

"Say, is it just me... Or do you have an... Orchid scent about you?" Hana-chan commented with a curious look. I grinned.

"Yup. Go have a look at the soaps in the bath. There are other scents available there," I said, thinking about how luxurious this place was for an old dusty tower. She didn't get a chance to look though. As soon as I said that there were scented baths, Aki-chan had swiftly darted into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

"Oh, and by the way, the Sand siblings are staying two doors away from us on the opposite side of the corridor," Hanaha told me. Hmm... That means we've got to be extra careful if we want to have our presence in this tower remain unnoticed for the next four days.

"Hey, I heard the jounin tell the Sand team that there is a library in here. Wanna go check it out later?" Hana-chan said. Ah yes. The library.

"Sure, but I wonder what kind of books and scrolls do you find in a library situated in the middle of The Forest of Death," I replied. Hana-chan just shrugged. Then the bathroom door opened with a gush of steam and Aki-chan stuck her head out, gold-brown hair dripping wet and framing her face. She really looked different without her hair in it's usual spiky style.

"Hey, pass me my bag will ya?" she said. I picked up the bag which she had thrown onto one of the beds earlier, and passed it to her. She took it and disappeared behind the door. Moments later, the door opened again and she threw out two bundles of cloth, before slamming the door shut again.

"What's this?" Hanaha said as she unravelled a bundle to reveal a set of clothes.

"New clothes, duh," came Aki's muffled voice from the bathroom. New clothes? I picked up the other bundle and unravelled it. It turned out to be a dark grey hoodie, a black and white shirt and a pair of jet black cargo pants all tied together with rope. There was a new pair of black soft leather glovelettes nestled in the hoodie. I looked over at Hanaha, who was already slipping on a black and white striped dress (that has short-sleeves, a raised collar similar to Mr Emo's, a slit down the skirt on each side that starts at the lower hip to grant the wearer easy movement-similar to Pinkie's) over a dark grey shirt with long, loose, wide sleeves and a pair of fitting black shorts. The dress was short-enough such that part of the shorts could be seen sticking out under the skirt. How on earth did she manage to change her clothes that fast?

"Hmm... This seems to fit me perfectly," she commented while examining the skirt of the dress.

"Of course!" Aki-chan said as she walked out of the bathroom. She was also wearing a new set of clothes: a dark grey sleeveless shirt (with a zip down the middle), a long black scarf, a short black pleated skirt, black and white striped arm warmers and matching black and white socks that ended high above her knees.

"What's with the new clothes?" I asked, while wondering if Aki-chan had brought these in her bag all along.

"Well, after all those missions and now this survival exam, I figured a change of clothes should be in order. I designed them myself. D'ya like it?" Akirai said cheerfully. Wow. So not only did she bring extra sets of clothes for all us, these clothes were designed by her! Laughing, I tackled her in a hug. When I was done glomping her, she had this really stunned expression.

"Kami save us all! I believe hell has just frozen over!" she said dramatically. "Chii-kun... Did you just... Hug me?"

I mock-glared/frowned at her. "No I didn't. You must be hallucinating."

She didn't respond to my sarcasm, but just sat onto her bed and stared into space, muttering,"Chii-kun just hugged me... She just hugged me..."

Then after awhile of repeating that, she suddenly said,"You're not someone else in disguise, are you? Cuz the Chii-kun I know... Doesn't hug people."

My face was twitching in annoyance by now. And Yami hasn't stopped laughing since Aki-chan's announcement that hell had just frozen over. "You're right. I'm not 'Chii-kun'. Neither is my name 'Yoruka Chizuki', nor am I sometimes called 'Akuma-chan' or 'Kurai-ko' or-"

"Aki, she did hug you and she is our one and only Chizuki," Hana-chan cut in, an amused grin on her face. "So quit it before she decides to haunt you in your dreams tonight. Oh, and is that honeysuckle?"

"Yup! I think there's apple blossom and rose available too. Plus the orchid one that Chii-kun used," Aki-chan said, snapping out of her dazed mood and Hana-chan disappeared into the bathroom.

"By the way, speaking of haunting dreams... You guys might wanna wear earplugs to sleep tonight," I warned them, smirking to myself.

"Uh... Why?" asked Hana-chan from the bathroom. Aki-chan had the look of a little fox, knowing whatever explanation I gave would be interesting. I bet she could sense potential mischief from a mile away.

"Well, let's just say I've arranged for a nightmare to occur sometime tonight. Something about being pulled around by invisible strings and-"

"Being used as a puppet and being made to perform in front of a crowd of jeering Sand nins, his siblings and his father a.k.a. The Kazekage? Poor Kankuro..." Aki-chan finished for me. A loud clatter followed by violent fits of coughing came from within the bathroom.

"... Hana-chan... Are you dying?" I deadpanned.

"I *cough* accidentally swallowed some *cough* soap water *cough*" came the reply. This was how our (Akirai's and mine) faces looked like =_=|||

"Maybe we should always refrain from saying anything... Epic... Whenever water is around. I remember having choked on my drink because of something you said before," commented Aki-chan.

Hanaha came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, with the fragrance of roses. I took my new set of clothes with me into the bathroom to change. The clothes really fitted me well and were quite comfortable. I retied my hitai-ate around my neck. Now all three of us were wearing matching clothes of the same colour scheme: dark grey, black, and black-white stripes. Plus all of us had something around our neck be it a high collar, scarf or hitai-ate and we all wore soft leather boots. When I came out of the bathroom, the both of them were lounging on their beds.

"Hey," began Hana-chan. "If Kanky is gonna have a nightmare tonight, no earplugs for me."

"Yep, same here," agreed Akirai. "I wanna get the satisfaction of hearing him scream."

I laughed and lept onto my bed, even though I knew I wouldn't be sleeping in it. Well, if they don't want to miss listening to a guy scream like a girl, who am I to stop them? I wonder what Kankuro's siblings would do once their brother starts disturbing their peace. Temari would probably give him a hell load of scoldings, cursing and maybe whacking. Gaara... Will probably just smother him in sand... If he's lucky. If not... Sand coffin it is. Even though I'm beginning to pity the dude, I don't think I'll regret any of this. Besides, I don't think he'll get killed tonight. No. Not tonight... Maybe some other night, but not tonight.

"You know..." Aki-chan said. "I want to throw things at his face."

"Che," snorted Hana-chan. "I want to throw his face at things."

I got out of bed and looked out of the window, smiling. The night was too boring staying in bed when you can't sleep. I swung myself over the window sill, thinking about spending the night atop the tower roof. When there are no clouds to watch, you could always watch the stars.

"Good night guys," I called over my shoulders. Then after some thought, "Sweet dreams."

When I left, they were still laughing.

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**That's all for now! Please review! XD  
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	15. Chapter 15: Dark Playground

**Here's the next chapter. Sorry for the wait. i dunno how this chapter is, so please review! Personally, I think I could have done better. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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Chapter 10: Dark Playground

_"You're never too old to learn something stupid."_

The screams began at midnight. I chuckled softly to myself as I lay on the roof top and blanketed with shadows. It was an otherwise peaceful night and up on the roof, you could hardly hear the screams. The stars were bright, but not as beautiful as the ones in Suna. I miss that place. The golden sand, the warm color scheme of day and dusk, the delicate tones of silver and gold at dawn, and the lovely but lonely silence at night. And also a young red-headed boy whose innocence has now been lost. I wonder if he's still there... A small star buried deep in who he is now. I wonder if the Desert Boy I knew can still be recovered from the teen now known as Gaara. Probably not. But I could still try.

His arrival was silent, almost unnoticeable, but Yami sensed him and quickly enveloped me in shadow and whisked me away like she used to do when I was younger. I wished I could talk to him though, face to face, and see just how much he has really changed. He probably won't reveal to anyone my presence, so it should be okay to let him know I'm here and my team's secrecy would still be safe, but who's to say he won't try to kill me if he sees me, even if he no longer recognizes or even remembers me? So I settled down farther up the roof, watching him from the shadows, the crescent moon softly bathing his lone figure in silver light.

...

When I returned to my team's room in the morning, I found Hana-chan lounging on her bed, freshly out of the shower, wearing earplugs. I gave her a questioning look. I thought she wanted to hear Kankuro screaming last night? And even so, wouldn't she have taken them out after she woke up? Or at least before she showered? Unless she started to wear them only after her shower but that doesn't make any sense. Until I heard Aki-chan singing in the bathroom. She wasn't loud-I'd specifically told her to lower down her volume if she wanted to escape notice from the other teams and she was smart enough to know how to keep quiet when making mischief anyways-so I still didn't see the need for earplugs. Then Aki-chan burst out of the bathroom all fresh and cheery, announcing to me, "Happy new year! May the festivity hover around you and congratulations for your paternity of 7 little kitties!"

. . . . . . . . . . . "Hana-chan...?" I reached out and pulled out the earplugs from her ears. "What the hell is wrong with her?"

"Who? Aki? I don't know. She's been like this ever since... She went out for a midnight snack-except it wasn't at midnight, it was at around two this morning," Hana-chan replied. "I think she's drunk."

I stared at the now-tap-dancing girl whose quick feet and hands were producing sparks each time they tapped the floor or clapped. "They don't have sake around here do they?"

"Well, we could always find out when we go down to the kitchens for breakfast..." Hanaha said, shrugging.

"Not with her like that. It'd attract everyone's attention," I replied with a sigh.

**No, it won't,** Yami cut in with what sounded like a smirk in her voice.

It didn't. Aki-chan remained quiet and still throughout our entire journey to the kitchen which was brightly lit and after making sure no one was in the kitchen, we switched off the kitchen lights and plunged it in comforting darkness. Then we set Aki-chan on one of the stools at the counter and began rummaging through the cupboards and fridge (they have a working fridge in a kitchen in an ancient tower in the middle of a deadly forest that no one in the right mind would enter!) for food, all the while ignoring a furious Aki-chan's muffled protests. We had gagged her and tied her up cuz wasn't that what kidnappers always do when they want to capture someone silently? Except that we didn't do it the conventional way... It was Yami who reminded me I could easily enclose any one in a coffin of shadows just like Gaara's sand coffin. I hadn't thought of it at first cuz I usually envelope people (recently leeches and other creatures) in shadows to kill them not 'capture them alive'.

There was a lot of cup ramen, some bread and cookies in the the cupboards, milk, cheese, ham, cold meat, frozen veg and some fruits in the fridge. The proctors for this exam must have gotten this place stocked up and properly prepared just recently. Hana set about making sandwiches for our lunch later while I got some cup ramen ready for breakfast. Even without the kitchen lights on, some dim light from the hallway spilled in and that was enough for us to work by. Then we heard footsteps. We froze. A silhouette came into view, paused outside the half-closed kitchen door, then walked on. Phew!

"What just happened?" Hana-chan asked. "I swear I saw the guy look in and he left with a confused expression on his face."

Yami chuckled and materialized out of the shadows, taking the usual form of a nekomata, her red and blue eyes glowing in the dark. **"That was too simple. Remember the genjutsu on room 201 at the Academy? Same concept. Whoever that was thought he remembered a kitchen being here, but now he all he sees is a blank wall. And this is no ordinary genjutsu these genins can break. Never underestimate what the dark can do."**

"Right. By the way, for how long are we gonna have to trap Aki like this?" Hana-chan said. Said girl began nodding her head vigorously.

"Why, until she's sober of course," Yami answered for me. "Or we could just send her to sleep, let her wake up with a hangover and you'll get a miserable grumpy girl who is at the very least not drunk."

Then the dark shadow-cat lept onto the counter and disappeared into some cupboards. We stared at her, wondering what she was up to. As I was taking up a pair of wooden chopsticks to eat my now-cooked ramen, Yami came out of a cupboard carrying a small bottle of sake with one of her tails. The bottle was empty. We all stared at Aki-chan, who was still struggling on the stool swathed in shadows darker than the unlit room.

"Well, what now?" I asked. The shadow-cat chuckled and sauntered over to Aki's angry-brat-face. Then she moved so fast, she couldn't be seen, especially in the dim light. A loud shattering was heard when Yami hit Aki-chan on the head with the sake bottle and glass shards flew everywhere. All of us flinched, but it seems none of us got injured at all-except for Akirai who slumped unconscious onto the counter top. The shadows had protected all of us for the most part. I scowled.

"You're a Shadow Demon. I'm sure there are infinitely better ways for you to render someone unconscious or put them to sleep," I said. Yami just smirked at me.

**"Sometimes, it is more satisfying to hear a shatter and to feel the impact of knocking someone unconscious than to silently drape a shadow over the mind and eyes of a person"** was her reply. I sighed in exasperation.

"I was under the impression that you were against such 'crude violence' as you once put it, and thought of such actions as 'uncouth'," I told her irritably. "If you continue to display such delight in physical abuse, I'm gonna start thinking that maybe the Great Shadowtail has swayed under the influence of a Tanuki-bastard that has only one tail."

**"That's enough. Point taken. But haven't you heard of 'drama'?"** Yami said, shaking her head with a mock sigh-the kids-these-days-are-so-ignorant kind of sigh.

"'Drama?' Are you kidding me?" Hana interrupted our bickering. "We have more than enough 'drama' around here already, thankyouverymuch. I have a spitfire trickster, a sadistic jester and her demon-pet on my team. Plus I'm currently in a tower in the middle of a training arena dubbed the Forest of Death, having just finished two ridiculous tests in a Chuunin Exam. Is that not enough 'drama'? And I believe I was recently involved in the tricking of Kanky who is the elder brother of a Desert Boy who killed an entire team of Rain nins using sand."

Wow. This is my first time hearing Hana-chan rant about anything. She usually just grumbles a bit here and there or even sulk if she's unhappy about anything, but rant? That's definitely a first. It seems Yami was shocked into speechlessness too. And that was another first.

"I swear the kitchens are somewhere here. Didn't that joining say turn left after..." Oh shit. Hanaha stopped her ranting and froze. Then we quickly leapt up to the ceiling, carrying Aki-chan with us and Yami 'nailed' her to the ceiling with shadows, while more shadows engulfed whatever remaining evidence of our presence in sight. Then Yami lifted the genjutsu she had placed on the entrance of the kitchen, revealing the doorway to the genins outside.

Crouched upside-down on the ceiling, we watched as three nins walked in, muttering amongst themselves about the mysterious kitchen door and whether or not it was set up by the proctors of this exam. Hana accidentally made a small sound when packing our lunch sandwiches into our bags, and all three nins below tensed. Then they each shrugged when they noticed nothing amiss. And as one of them went to find the switch for the kitchen lights, the gleam of the light outside the kitchen shone on the metal surface of the nin's hitai-ate. They were a second team of Suna nins.

I exchange glances with Hana. This was one team we'd have to spy on. There were two guys and one girl, the usual configuration of a genin team. The girl had long caramel hair tied into a ponytail, dark grey eyes and carried a roll of black cloth on her back, so I guess cloth was her weapon. One of the guys had a thick metal chain coiled round his waist like a belt and I'm guessing that's a weapon too. He had chestnut brown hair and silver eyes. The last person also had chestnut hair and silver eyes, but his weapon was this long wooden staff that he carried on his back. I had a feeling all three of them were related and that the two guys could possibly be siblings or even twins. Funny, I don't remember seeing them in Suna before. But then again, I never really tried to make friends or get to know people then-other than Gaara-so I suppose there'll be a lot of Suna people I haven't met.

The three Suna nins took out some bread and cheese and began to eat breakfast. They must have only just arrived. Well, once Aki-chan is awake, she'd probably want to play a prank on these 'newcomers' so we'll just have to start shadowing them first, and try to find out more about their strengths, weaknesses, et cetera. We listened to their conversations and found out their names. The girl was called Fukuro, the chain boy was called Washi and the staff-boy was called Tako. (A/N: 'Fukuro' is owl, 'Washi' is eagle and 'Tako' is kite-the object, not the bird-or octopus in Jap) Apparently, they were siblings... Twins in fact. The girl was their cousin. And all three were aware-and quite wary-of the Sand Sibling's presence in the tower... Particularly the youngest and most dangerous one.

We followed them when they exited the kitchens, which proved challenging due to a currently inanimate Akirai who was quite a drag. Half-pulling and half-carrying Aki, we stalked the Fly team (as Yami has nicknamed them) all the way to the library where they settled down to read. Lucky for us, the library was dim and dusty, with flickering lights and a few table lamps here and there. Of course, it seems no one thought of lifting the shutters off the windows, so it worked out fine for those of us who were sneaking about. Since they looked like they were gonna spend the next few hours in the library (i.e. Nothing eventful or worth seeing will happen anytime soon-unless Akirai wakes up and that will be a whole different story) I decided to leave Aki-chan with Hanaha and go off to check on the Sand Siblings and Kina's team, and also see if any other new teams have arrived.

It turns out this second Sand team was the only other team to arrive recently, so now there were four teams in the tower: two Konoha and two Suna. Kiba and his teammates were reviewing the last few days in their room. I managed to slip outside and hid above their room window that-like ours-looked over the forest canopy. I could hear almost every word they said... Shino and Hinata were slightly quieter, so I couldn't catch some of what they said, but Kiba was quite loud. So I listened to how they found out about the Chuunin Exams, how they agreed to apply for it, how they passed the written test, how they trapped another team and got their scroll (and apparently this other team were being chased by giant leeches when they fell into the trap) and how they sensed Gaara's team, how Akamaru reacted to Shukaku's aura (so different from how he reacts to Yami to the extent that it's irrational. I mean, Shukaku considers Yami as a threat and that says something!) how they found out another team (mine) was watching them and the situation before them too, how frightened they were... Et cetera. I was amused when they got to the part where they began to wonder what happened to my team and they started to bet on whose team will pass this test. Little did they know my team had already passed this round and were in the tower...before them. But if there was any team around that could sense my team's presence in this tower, it'd be theirs. After all, their team not only knows my team well (we had worked together on several occasions before...) but they also specialize in tracking and locating with Hinata's Byakugan, Shino's bugs, Kiba and Akamaru's canine senses.

It was lunch time when the three of them left the room to go have lunch in the kitchens. I took out the lunch Hana-chan had packed for me and with a sandwich in my mouth, I headed back into the tower and sought out the Sand Siblings. On my way, I met my teammates. Aki-chan was already awake and fortunately, her grumpiness towards being hit on the head by a sake bottle was overridden by her excitement in planning out a prank for the Fly Team. So I got Yami to tune in on them so that when Akirai carried out her plan, I could watch it too. Then I heard Shukaku's loud mental voice echoing down the corridors, unheard by everyone except his host, Yami and I. It was funny to hear his voice in such a detached manner. It was a one way thing, according to Yami. When he knows we're here, he speaks directly into our minds. Otherwise, he just speaks in Gaara's mind but we can still hear him, just differently, and our shadows need to be linked for that kind of ' demon mind reading' to occur. Of course, Shukaku doesn't know this and it wouldn't matter if he did. He can't hear what Yami and I say in our minds when we make our presence unknown to him, cuz he isn't the one who has shadowy demonic mental powers. Yami rocks... Sometimes.

We followed Shukaku's voice (he had been pretty quiet yesterday when we met their team in the tower... Probably lethargic-though I doubt it-from all that blood his sand drank, so we didn't 'hear from him' until now) and when we neared an open doorway, I caught sight of the Sand Siblings having lunch and sitting on the floor in what seemed like a corner of an empty practice arena. Well, Temari and Kankuro were eating cup ramen while Gaara was... Doing nothing and just leaning on a wall a little away from his siblings, arms folded across his chest, and head tilted down. He looked like he was resting... Except that he was still standing and that can't really count as resting... Can it? I mean, horses sleep standing up... But Gaara's not a horse. And I don't know how much rest can one get when you have an irritating loud-mouthed demon going on and on in your head. I remember constantly having arguments-or to put it in nicer terms, debates-with Yami at night when I was younger. Everyday, we'd take note and file away in our heads, subjects that should be debated upon, and wait till night falls and I've got nothing better to do, then we'd begin our 'debates'. It was beneficial in everyway: firstly, it meant that I wouldn't be wasting time arguing with Yami about anything during the day when I could be doing something more productive such as looking for food, unless it was an argument that 'could not wait' for later. Secondly, it meant that I had something to fill up my time at night other than playing shogi (which was also beneficial) and thirdly, it meant that my argumentative and debate skills got better and better. Yami was like a diplomat: she could tell you to go to hell in such a way that you'd actually look forward to the trip. You could say she's the best instructor I could ever have for lessons on how to win an argument with subtlety.

The place was half lit, as it was really huge and there were currently only three (excluding myself) people occupying the place. There were two levels, the second level consisting of a narrow strip of balcony circling and overlooking the arena with railings and seemed to be where spectators would stand if there were any. Skulking in the shadows of the balcony gave me a pretty good view of the team in the arena. Not for the first time, I got the urge to let someone know of my presence here, and in this case, that someone would be Shukaku. The only danger about this is that once a secret is out, it gets hard to control who knows or who doesn't know about it. And then it ceases to be a secret.

**Do you know it's possible to get information out of Shukaku without letting him know we're here?** Yami commented. _Huh?_

**But you'll have to use a Dark Clone for us to have access to Shukaku's demon mind.**

... This demon... Getting information out of her is like squeezing toothpaste out of a finishing tube. _Why the hell didn't you let me know earlier? Sheesh..._ And now she has begun humming a creepy tune and ignoring me in that la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you~ way.

_Fine._ I formed the typical hand seals of Ram-Snake-Tiger, then added a Dragon and a Shadow sign (A/N: shadow is something I invented. Its a hand seal that is different from the usual 12 but slightly resembles a Rat.) Kurai Bunshin no Jutsu! I watched as my shadow detached itself from me in the form of a dark patch-darker than the shadows we were hiding in-and like a puddle of darkness, it rose from the ground and began to take the form of a clone... a clone of me. Except that the Dark clone had Yami's red and blue eyes instead of my violet ones. And I knew that if both my clone and I walked into the light right now, we would both be seen to have no shadows.

While I remained in my hiding spot in the shadows of the upper level, my Dark Clone slipped down and began to flit like the shadow of a candle flame along the underside of the balcony (the lower 'ceiling' of the main floor) towards the place where the siblings were sitting/standing under. Then the clone appeared to disappear altogether when it merged with Gaara's shadow. Very soon, I found myself immersed in the memories of Shukaku that my clone had gathered from the shadow of Gaara. It's interesting how this kind of clone can only pick up the darkest of thoughts that reside in a person's mind (in this case, the thoughts of a demon) but not the rest... But I guess that's a reason why its called a Dark clone.

Glancing through the recent memories of the Sand Demon, I found what I was looking for. First of all, I found out that the Sand siblings didn't give a shit about the Fly team. And that was good news. Secondly, I found out that last night was one of the worst experiences of Kankuro's lifetime. And that was excellent news. Last of all, I found out that Gaara hasn't eaten lunch yet... Nor breakfast for that matter. Because apparently, when he went to the kitchens for breakfast (sometime after his siblings and about half-an-hour after my team) the food were finished by the team before him (which I knew was Kiba's team... I wonder how much food he and Akamaru can consume together.) Apparently, the jounins restocked the kitchens once a day in the afternoon. Which also means that if Choji were here (but he isn't... Thankfully), none of us would have any lunch to eat by the time he finishes breakfast. Quite an inefficient system I'd say. I guess they didn't expect four teams to have passed the test by the morning of the second day and didn't expect so much food to be consumed. Judging from the presence of fresh food (well, relatively fresh and maybe a little frozen) in the fridge, I guess they couldn't risk stocking too much in case the food spoils plus the fridge was kind of small. I had a feeling that by the fourth day, we'd all be eating cup ramen, canned food and whatever other highly preserved food. Anyhow, the problem with referring to Shukaku's memories is that everything is seen from his point of view and if he fails to notice something or his focus is on something else, then I will have missing or too much information (O_O!) on certain things.

When I realised that Gaara wasn't gonna have anything to eat until tea time or dinner, I wasn't quite pleased. Hell, I was feeling uncomfortable. I still remembered the day that I gave him my last precious meat bun that could have been the only food I'd have for days (but wasn't cuz his uncle gave me food and lodgings at the mansion in return for being Gaara's playmate) just because he was staring at it so longingly. But it was different now, and yet I had the urge to do something, anything, about this. I couldn't just let him go hungry. And Yami wasn't helping by succumbing to her curiosity and was now going through everything my clone gathered from Shukaku's mind-wasn't there a saying about curiousity killing the cat? Then again, she wasn't really a cat-which included all the really disturbing, embarrassing and horribly funny stuff that crosses Shukaku's mind. And I really didn't need to know what a half-drunk male tanuki demon thinks of when he's bored. But I had a feeling all of these info was going to make blackmailing the Ichibi a lot easier than it already was.

Then Kankuro and Temari got to their feet having finished their lunch and I supposed they were gonna continue whatever they were doing before lunch... Probably training. This was going to be interesting. I have seen my fellow Konoha rookies train before and trained with them too, but I have yet to watch the Sand siblings train. Then Gaara straightened up and joined his siblings in the centre of the arena, so I quickly detached my Dark clone i.e. my 'runaway' shadow from his. And I noticed that their team had left their empty ramen cups and some of their belongings (two small bags) where they had been sitting and having lunch moments ago. How dangerous. I thought being experienced Sand nins they should be more wary about leaving their stuff lying around where anybody can steal them while they train. Maybe they think that they'd notice if anyone entered the arena which would give no one the chance of even trying to steal their stuff. Little did they know someone had already entered the arena without their knowing and could just as easily steal their stuff even if they weren't focused in their training. Not that I intended to steal their things. I was going to add to their things. I still had an uneaten sandwich. All I had to do was pass the sandwich to my shadow which was now returning to me and get it to scoot back to where the Sand siblings left their stuff and leave the sandwich there. Easy. Now I could just 'sit back, relax and enjoy the show'.

Because there were three of them, two of them would spar first. I couldn't really see from where I sat what method they used to determine who sparred with who first, but I doubt it'd be scissors-paper-stone. I can't imagine any of them playing such a game. Maybe draw straws? The sparring bout started with taijutsu, all the kicks and punches and whatnot. It was satisfying to see Temari having the upper-hand. Then again, she was older and I think Kankuro hasn't quite fully recovered from his nightmare yesterday. Then the fight slowly progressed and included basic ninjutsu, followed by the use of their weapons. Weren't they afraid of other genins seeing them fight and getting to know their abilities? I mean, shouldn't they try to limit their use of weapons so that they can have the element of surprise later on? Well, I suppose they don't care if Team Kiba sees them fight cuz it's unlikely that team would willingly stand within ten meters of the Sand team. And I don't think they care if the other Sand team saw them practicing cuz they were both from Suna and could have seen one another train before (unlikely, but it was a possibility.) I keep forgetting that the only team that could possibly pose a threat to them at the moment was ours and they didn't even know we're here.

Temari won the bout with an awesome flourish of her fan that blew Kankuro away... Literally. Then someone walked into the arena. It was their sensei, Baki. It seems like once the jounins know of their team's success in the second test, they'd come meet their teams in the tower. The thing is, our team doesn't have a sensei. I watched as Baki talked to his students about the Forest of Death and about fighting strategies and techniques which was actually kind of boring but useful. Then he had them show him their skills and began to correct them here and there like the sensei he was. Except that I don't think I've seen a sensei that tough before... Which would explain the slightly daunting nature of the Sand team. I wonder if it was possible for the jounin to notice an extra presence in the arena. Sure, Yami has constantly told me that the cover of her shadows were 'foolproof' unless someone actually shines a light on the area we were hiding and then the shadows would be dispelled and even that depends on the strength of the light and the amount of concentration we put in maintaining the shadows. Apparently it was possible to cover the light in shadow if the power if the shadows were stronger than the light. But I still had my doubts... I wasn't just going to blindly think that I could never be seen by anyone if I didn't want them to, and I knew overconfidence often brought trouble. I suppose Baki didn't notice me though and if he did, he must be hiding it pretty well; he gave no indication of having sensed a stalker spying on his students. I'd be in deep shit if he found out though.

One hour later, the three siblings finally finished their training and Baki left the arena. Then they headed back to where they left their belongings and I held my breath. What were they gonna do when they see the extra sandwich? I wasn't Aki, so I wasn't able to do all the precise calculations that would ensure a successful plan, and I was starting regret doing such a stupid thing. I should have just eaten that sandwich myself and heck care... It would have been a lot less troublesome. And now Yami was sighing in my head... The I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-you kind of exasperated sigh. But now it was too late to take back that sandwich so...

In the end, it didn't matter. The shock faces of Temari and Kankuro were really worth it. I suppose they managed to deduce that the sandwich must have been left there by someone else who managed to sneak past them. Then they began to search through their stuff as if expecting to see some of their belongings missing. I admire their ability to still appear relatively calm when they did their methodical check of their stuff, though you could almost see the panic in their eyes. All because of a sandwich. Hilarious. I suppose it isn't everyday that someone manages to do something like this. But this seems to have aroused some suspicion from Shukaku and by the end of today, I'm pretty sure he'll realise we're here... Unless he's dumber than I thought. What I didn't expect but should have expected was for them to begin scanning the arena and trying to see if they can find the one behind the mysterious sandwich. Hell, that sounds ridiculous even when I think about it. Anyone would think they're overreacting. Come on, a sandwich? Of course there's a chance someone poisoned it and left it there for them to eat... But how idiotic is that? If I wanted to poison them, I'd have poisoned their ramen!

I really don't know what I was thinking when I left that sandwich there. What had I been expecting? It was on an impulse I guess, but I must have known Gaara wouldn't touch the food anyways. Especially mysteriously-appearing-suspicious-maybe-poisoned food. And I guess I wanted to try anyways, try even if I know I'll probably fail. I really should get Akirai to teach me how she executes her pranks with such amazing precision next time. In any case, I watched as the two elder siblings gave up their search for the 'perpetrator' i.e. Me, and they packed their stuff and got ready to leave the arena and probably head back to their rooms. I sighed, got up from where I had been crouching in the dark and stretched. My legs felt like pincushions. And I almost screamed.

This happens often, when someone sneaks up on me or somehow or other manages to scare me, but they always think I can't be taken by surprise... Probably because I don't let myself show much of a reaction even when i feel like I could have jumped out of my skin. It has always been like this, whenever Yami feels that the source of the 'scare' isn't a threat and can't be bothered to warn me. And if anyone observes closely enough, when I receive a scare or shock, I either take in a deep breath, freeze, or my heartbeat will suddenly accelerate... But these are little things and no one really notices them. There was no doubt these 'little things' didn't escape the notice of that scrutinising gaze. You would freak out too if you turned around and saw a large floating eyeball staring right at you. There was also no doubt that this is proof of Shukaku's surprising intelligence. To think that he actually informed his host about his discovery... I turned away from the eyeball and looked down the balcony at the boy below. His siblings were already walking out if the arena but he was still standing right where they left him... Holding the plastic-wrapped sandwich in one hand. Our eyes met. Shit. I quickly stepped back into the darkest of shadows and used my shadow body-flicker, kage no shunshin, to whisk myself away. Call it running away if you must, but I really hate these awkward stuff. Yet, as I sped away from the arena, I couldn't help but hope that maybe, just maybe, he'd eat the sandwich. But why would he eat something a stranger leaves on the floor anyways? Haixx...

... Akirai's POV...

I was surprised when I saw Chii-kun. I thought she'd be off stalking her Desert Boy and his team. I sometimes wonder if she has a crush on him... Nope. Of course she's got a crush on him! The question should be, does she know she's crushing on him? Meh, I wonder if she has even thought about it before! Anyhow, she came just in time! I was just about to set my fabulous plan into action! My fabulous plan to brighten up an Owl's day-wait, owls are night birds right? Poor Fuku-chan!-and to chain down the Eagle-with his own chains of course!-and finally, have Tako on a stick for dinner!... Just kidding. But you get the idea, hehe. I do wish they had takoyaki around here though... I miss eating them already.

"So is this all we're gonna need?" Hana-chan whisper-asked me as she carried some scrolls under an arm and some bottles of... stuff... in her hands. That was when Chii-kun had decided to grace us with her presence.

"What'cha doing?" she whispered, eyeing the stuff Hana-chan carried rather suspiciously. I don't think the mischievous grin I knew was spreading across my face helped very much. If anything, it seemed to make my friends even more suspicious. Hey, they should just be glad I'm not pranking on them, okay?

"Wait and see! Don't wanna spoil the fun and surprise!" I told them, still smiling. I think by the end of today, my facial muscles will ache from grinning too much... And I'll split my sides with laughter and all my intestines and whatnot will spill out! Crap... I hope I didn't just jinx/curse myself.

All three of us crept to Fuku-chan's room where she and her twin cousins were currently relaxing unaware of what I have in mind for them. Ahahahaha...! ... Chill girl, chill. It's not my fault I got attention defi-something hyperactive-something... I think it's a disorder or is it disease? Disorder sounds better though. I can't remember...

"It's ADHD-attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Now will you be quiet? Owl, Eagle and Kite could hear us you know," hissed Hana-chan. Whoopsie. I must have said/thought that aloud. We had reached their room door and now we had to get in unseen.

"Has any of you thought of entering through the window?" Chii-kun asked, staring at us with a blank look. The look that says: you are stupid and I have no comments. The window? I turned to my left and stared at Hana-chan who looked like she wanted to hit something. I pouted. Why didn't I think of this before? Out loud, I said, "Chii-kun~! Why didn't you mention this earlier? We-Mmph...!"

I found myself being manhandled-yes, manhandled! Again!-by my two beloved teammates. There was a hand covering my mouth and more hands grabbing my arms and legs. Plus I think my eyes were being covered by something. And don't forget we were all upside down on the ceiling. Well, my first instinct was to bite the hand covering my mouth and I heard silent cursing before something soft and thick was stuff into my mouth. I would have thought it was cloth if I didn't know better. If you ask me what shadows taste like, I'd say they taste like honeyed umeboshi-sweet, salty and sour... But mostly sour. So sour that it numbs your entire mouth when it is stuffed in there so unmercifully as Chii-kun was doing.

It wasn't very uncomfortable, being swathed in thick shadows and transported around by your evil friends (yes, evil! Eeeviiil! It's all in the height! The shorter you are, the eviler you get! Just look at Chii-kun and look at that Desert boy of hers! Both are equally short and equally evil I tell you! Okay... I'm ranting too much...) The thing is, the shadows were warm and they were cold... At the same time. And after awhile, your body starts to feel all numb and lethargic and this is when I start to struggle. I mean, hey, if I fall asleep, who's going to carry out the prank? Chii-kun and Hana-chan wouldn't know what they're supposed to do cuz I'm the one with the plan. Now whatever would they do without me? And yet they try to bully their awesome friend-crap. I think I've become far too egoistic. What's happening? I'm started to feel disgusted at myself. Wait a minute... Maybe this is what they mean by being driven to insanity by darkness. Then-

"Aki... What in the world of rafflesias are you blabbering about?" I snapped out of my spinning thoughts and blinked as bright light filled my vision white. The shadows had been removed and when my eyes adjusted to the light, I realised all three of us were on a wall outside the tower and approaching an opened window from which we could vaguely hear Fukuro's voice. That must be the window of her room. Thank kami it's opened.

"Hana-chan. What are 'rafflesias'?" I asked. She gave me a weird look, but she didn't answer my question. Chii-kun did... With undisguised laughter in her voice.

"Rafflesias are ginormous flowers that smell of roadkill and rotting meat," she said. What? Hana-chan and Chii-kun both looked rather amused at the expression of shock on my face. Was I that comical?

"Alright, we're here. Time to get started. Aki, what's your plan?" Hana-chan asked, waving a few of the bottles I got her to carry. I took the bottles from Hana-chan and shimmied nearer to the window. Almost automatically, a light blanket of shadow was draped over me by Chii-kun. Under the cover of Yami-chan's shadows, I slipped into the room where Fukuro and her teammates were sitting cross-legged on the floor beside their beds. I glanced over my shoulder for a moment and saw two fleeting silhouettes cross the window and 'flowing' into the room like liquid darkness. Then I uncorked a bottle of golden honey-like substance and poured it into a bottle with neon blue chemicals. The reaction was instantaneous and I quickly poured it onto the roll of black cloth that leaned against the wall near Fukuro, followed by a bottle of bright pink liquid. The fluids flowed over the cloth, silently frothing away until the entire cloth was covered with a gleaming substance that resembled quicksilver. Then the substance seeped into the cloth and the cloth absorbed it until it was black again. Corking back all the bottles, I handed them to Chii-kun who looked at the black cloth weirdly. Then she raised an eyebrow: what did you do to it? I grinned as I shrugged my shoulders in reply: wait and see.

Next, I got Chii-kun and Hana-chan to hold a scroll each. We edged towards the staff belonging to Tako, careful to avoid stepping onto or tripping over any stuff. It'd be disastrous if we were to fall or crash into Tako or any if the teammates while they sat there chatting, oblivious to our presence. I'm sure that though we were practically invisible both physically and chakra-wise thanks to Yami and her shadows, we weren't intangible.

I bit myself and used a bleeding finger to draw some seals into the staff. Then I made a few quick hand-signs: half-rat half-tiger, bird, then half-ram (A/N: I made this up... Not sure if there exist a jutsu that actually uses this combination or not...) and with a swirl of smoke, the dark red seals on the staff faded away although the wood of the staff looked a little darker brown than usual. I doubt Tako'd notice anything until its too late though.

Last of all was the chains belonging to Washi. This was going to be much harder to do than the previous two cuz the chains were worn around Washi's body. But with a slender green tendril courtesy of Hana-chan, we managed to get one free trailing end of the chains slightly away from Washi's body. But our close proximity to him was still uncomfortable enough and quite risky. Honestly, I'm still not very used to creeping around with only a demon's shadow as cover-especially when I could still see myself perfectly fine. It's like crossing a bridge of glass: you can look down and see the gaping abyss below quite clearly and know that the glass may give way anytime. I got Hana-chan to open her scroll first, then I got Chii-kun to put her scroll in the middle of Hana-chan's and open it. When the overlapping scrolls were opened, it resembled a cross shape. As the black ink of the seals in the scroll began to shift and 'awaken', I quickly placed the trailing end of Washi's chain in the middle of the crossed scrolls. One dragon hand sign was enough to trigger the chain reaction-no pun intended. Ink from the first scroll crept over the second scroll and merged with the ink from the sceond scroll which in turn, crept over the chain end and crept up it, turning the silver metal black. Then I quickly gestured towards the window and all three of us scooted out the window.

From outside the window, we watched as the gleaming chains on Washi's body turn dark. Not before long, Tako spotted the change and started gesturing wildly at the chains. As predicted, Washi leapt up and tried to take the chains off him. I say 'tried to' because he didn't actually succeed. The thing is, if he hadn't made any sudden movement, nothing would have happened. But since he did, the chains got tighter and as if they had a life of its own, they began getting tangled up and the two now-dangling free ends shot out, grabbed the nearest things and wrapped themselves around them. It so happened that one end of the chain had grabbed a bed post, effectively chaining the guy to the ground, while the other chain so happened to grab Tako's arm and licked itself there (I shall emphasize that it 'so happened' to grab Tako. Honestly. I swear. It really was a coincident... I can tell you still don't believe me.)

When the Eagle had been chained to the ground, the Kite was grounded too. Tako then tripped over his staff as he tried to unchain himself from his twin brother and the staff 'so happened' to erect itself stiff and straight at that moment (fine, I now see why you don't believe me when I said 'so happened') and speared through a tightening chain loop. The result was that Tako ended up being not only tied to his twin, but 'tied to a stake' too. The only female in the team watched on with a half-exasperated half-disbelieving and suspicious look. Too bad for her, there was no more evidence left of the scrolls that started the chain reaction. I had made sure they self-destructed as soon as all the ink had left the paper and gone onto the chains. I had made the seals and written the scrolls myself after all. I was only a master at it when preparing it for pranking usage though. If you asked me to create a scroll for any other purposes, I wouldn't be able to do it... Not even if it's just for a normal mission report.

The last show had yet to pass. The Owl, youngest of the team but wisest, calmly thought of how to get her twin cousins out of this mess. Unfortunately for her, her main instrument/weapon/tool was a roll of black cloth that had already been tampered by the same person behind all this mischief i.e. the one and only awesome Me. As soon as she unravelled the roll of cloth, it tumbled out of her hands and draped itself all over the room, over the beds and over the table and even onto the walls. Following that, colors began to blossom on the black cloth and iridescent dye covered the cloth in a gay painting. Only the edges if the cloth remained black; the entire length of the cloth was transformed into a painted scenery of sunshine, flowery meadows, butterflies and last but not least, rainbow sheep and little pigs. Of course, there was one more thing that 'so happened' to occur.

At that particular moment, the room door opened and in walked two Suna jounins, one of which was Desert boy's sensei (I forgot his name... Was it 'baka'? No couldn't be...) while the other was probably Fukuro's sensei. Both stood at the doorway, stopped and stared. I tried to imagine what they must be seeing: one of their students tied to his bed with his own chain weapon, another tied to his twin and his staff like some human takoyaki, and the last and most sensible if the lot trying in vain to roll up her cloth weapon that was no longer black but splashed with gay colors depicting a gay scenery with gay sheep and piglets prancing across the length of the cloth that wound round the room such that it was so bold and blatant that you couldn't possibly miss it.

I think we all almost died that day, laughing so hard we almost fell off the wall we were climbing on. At least Chii-kun cheered up quite a bit after that. She had seemed pretty quiet (quiet in that emo way, not her usual I-shall-ignore-you way) today. Did something happen when she was spying on the other Sand team? I wonder...

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**That's all for now. Don't worry about the three new sand OCs I invented and inserted. I'm going to get rid of them soon so there's not much point remembering their names for those who have problems remembering names. will update asap**


	16. Chapter 16: Electrical Musical

**Finally, the next chapter's up! Sorry for the wait. I'll try to be quicker next time. Try. I repeat, try. Gomen. **

**Hope you enjoy the chapter~**

**Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me. Gaara does. Just kidding.**

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Chapter 11: Electrical Musical

_"Some people are like Slinkies ... not really good for anything, but you can't help smiling when you see one tumble down the stairs."_

...Hanaha's POV...

"You're a genius!" I exclaim-whispered when we returned to the 'safety' of our room. I collapsed into my bed, grinning.

"Of course I am!" Akirai replied, turning up her nose and sitting on my bed beside me."Took you long enough to realize that."

Chizuki lounged on Aki's bed opposite us. "Sheesh, her ego's big enough as it is. Must you blow it up further?"

"Hey, admit it. That prank was epic," Aki replied. Chii raised an eyebrow, but she smiled. It was a smirk.

"Nah. The best part was when the two senseis walked it. Now that was epic," Chizuki said with an almost dreamy sigh. As if she was replaying that moment. She was right though. As much as we delighted in seeing the Fly team get into a mess, nothing could beat what came after that when their sensei as well as the Sand sibling's sensei walked in. Their faces were a picture of shock. First their faces went blank, then white, then blue, then purple, then red, then black. Throughout the whole color-changing episode, I thought their heads were gonna explode like a swollen overripe fruit, especially when their faces were purple. I'll bet Suna nins don't come across such humiliating sights very often. A whole lecture and tirade erupted over them about how they've shamed their village and they were lucky that it didn't happen in public. I remember wondering if the Konoha people had installed cameras in the bedrooms. Probably not. If they had they would have a) caught me naked as I changed clothes but they would also have b) caught the whole embarrassing Suna scene.

"Say, what have you found out about their fighting techniques? Surely you'd have checked that out before planning that prank?" Chizuki suddenly asked and I recalled that we were supposed to discuss info gathered about our opponents at night before bed. Last night we had totally forgotten about it.

"Oh, um... The staff belonging to Takoyaki is usually used as a normal staff. You know, whacking people and the like. But I suspect it may be able to be split into eight sections too and hence, become a long sectioned-whip that looks like some spinal skeleton of some animal," Aki replied. "I don't know how he'd use that though. Didn't get to see him use it that way yet."

"But we did get to see quite some of his twin's fighting techniques," I added. "Apparently, Washi-Washi's chain whip can grow sharp spikes on 'em when he makes some funny hand-sign. Just like how I can make vines grow thorns at a moment's notice. So his weapon's quite dangerous. The chains are usually under his command, unless Aki does something to them like just now, and coil and lash about him like snakes. And they've got quite a bite."

"Takoyaki? Washi-Washi? Then what nickname have you come up for the girl?" Chizuki asked sounding somewhat amused. I laughed, than clapped a hand over my mouth, aware that I was too loud.

"We call her Hoot. You know, the sound an owl makes? Hoot! Hoot! Hoo-mmph!" Just when I was happily making fun of Fukuro's name, something black and silky covered me. I could bet my life that'd be Yami.

Roses shouldn't talk so loud. In fact, roses shouldn't have mouths to open nor tongues to wag at all. What has gotten into you, Rose-girl? You're... High. Almost as if you're turning into another Firefly. One's enough, thank you very much.

I came face to face with a pair of annoyed red and blue eyes that glowed with an eerie light. My eyebrows were raised. I couldn't help it. For one, that shadow demon was right. I was feeling far too hyper... Perhaps not as hyper as Akirai, but hyper enough for someone like me. Not that I was a slug or anything, but I preferred to reserve my glee for my beloved plants. And who's gonna have a cool head to lead this team if both Aki and I went all high and hyper and crazy? Definitely not Chii. She could be a potential leader, but... She'll probably end up knocking both of us unconscious for all the trouble we'd cause and then, she'd be by herself. With two dead weights to carry. It takes two to keep Aki down and keep the team in one piece. One girl and a demon would not stop two Akirais from causing problems even if the two Akirais were unconscious. However, I was quite surprised to have Yami reprimand me. This has never happened before. I suppose she doesn't want to deal with two Akirais either.

"Never underestimate the power of an Akirai," Chizuki commented, as if she could read my mind. She couldn't, could she?

"You and your lil' demon speak as if I am an annoying thing," Aki said, pouting. "'An' Akirai? 'Another' Firefly?"

"That's because you are annoying... At times," I said, to which Yami added, Most times.

"We're off topic," Chizuki stated. "What have you learnt about Fukuro?"

"Oh. Ano... She uses sealing and binding techniques with that cloth. And she could imbue her chakra into it and sharpen its edges with the wind or ablaze with fire," I replied, thinking of Hoot-I mean, Fukuro's ability to use a roll of cloth as a flaming whip and yet the cloth remains unburnt.

"Ne~, we don't need to discuss Hina-chan's team's abilities right?" Aki suddenly said.

"Nope. We're lucky to have trained with them and gone on missions with them before," Chizuki replied, grinning.

"But what about that other Suna team? The Sand Siblings," I pointed out. Of course I secretly hoped we could stop this discussion right now and do something more fun.

"I know quite a bit about their abilities. I've lived with them for a month or so. And I just watched them train today. What have you guys learnt about them?" Chii said. I thought about it.

"Kanky uses puppetry. We all know that. And his puppet is equipped with many hidden weapons. And we don't know what weapons are there, so I guess there's our disadvantage. Temari uses a giant fan and utilizes the wind. About as dangerous as Hoot-gyah! I mean Fukuro. Your Desert Boy uses sand. We saw it's most effective use yesterday in the forest," I said, to which Akirai added, "In conclusion, let's avoid having a confrontation with them at all cost."

I blinked in surprise. Avoid a confrontation? Did she seriously just say that?

"Aki, you must be having a fever. I believe you just said you wanted to avoid having a confrontation."

"You heard right. Just because I love to fight and just because I'm a ninja with ADHD, it doesn't mean I'm suicidal." Akirai snorted. Then pouted. And her scrunched up face was really cute. Like a little monkey making faces.

"I heard that!" yelled Aki at me. What?

"You said that aloud." Irritable voice.

"Said what aloud?" Feigning ignorance.

"That. The comment about me looking like a little monkey making faces."

"Well... Hey! Where did Chii go to?" Oh Kami. She's gone and done one of her disappearing acts again.

"Probably dinner," Aki said. "I'm hungry. I wanna eat takoyaki."

"... Let's go to the kitchens and see what food are there. And see if our lil' demon is there too," I suggested. So we went out of our rooms and headed down to the kitchens for dinner.

The kitchens were empty except for the presence of our dear friend Chizuki. She was standing by a small stove, her back to us. Beside her on the counter was a steaming hot meatloaf and a cold apple strudel. We walked over to her.

"What'cha doin'?" Akirai asked.

"Heating up some chicken pie," was the reply. "Go look in the fridge. I think there are more food in there. And fruits too."

We checked the fridge. What caught my eye were the platters of-my favorite!-sushi. I took one plate out and examined each and every piece. There were sashimi-salmon and tuna, temakis-classic, teriyaki chicken and unagi, tempura-ebi, sweet potato, eggplant and soft-shelled crab. there were also crabmeat, cucumber and egg rolls, with seaweed, sesame seed and roe. I ate all of the above, with a bowl of cold soba, and heated miso soup.

Akirai, of course, ignored the sushi, ignored the pies, and everything else that was stocked in the fridge, except dessert. Her first meal was a plate of sugary fruit tarts. Her second one was a plate of ice cream mochi. Her last was a bowl of frozen fruits-peaches, grapes, kiwi, pineapple and cherries, with crushed ice and some sort of sweet honey-like syrup. It was something she concocted herself. And Chii, being Chii, finished her meatloaf, chicken pie and apple strudel in five minutes flat.

"Kami, Chii-kun. You'll choke on your food one day if you keep wolfing down your meal so fast," Aki said while she helped herself to the last persimmon in the fridge. It was amazing to watch the two of them sometimes. Chizuki would win in the speed-eating contest. Akirai would win in the dessert-eating contest. And Yami would win in the eat-anything-including-humans-contest. The fridge was half empty by the time we were done with dinner. It really was surprising that neither Aki nor Chii were as fat-sorry, did I say fat? I meant plump-as Choji.

We quickly exited the kitchens before other teams come for their dinner, and headed back to our rooms. It was nine sharp and almost time for bed. Chizuki brought up one last question before she left us to spend her night on the roof as she usually did.

"When are we gonna start training again?" she asked. "There's no point in finding out our opponent's strengths and weaknesses if we're not gonna train ourselves against them."

"Well," I said. "We could begin tomorrow night."

"Yeah," agreed Aki. "That would be our third night here. Then we can have two nights to practice. I plan to slack off on the fifth day."

So it was decided. We would spend two more days gathering information, two nights training, and the last day relaxing and enjoying ourselves before the next big thing-not that we weren't already enjoying ourselves already, what with Akirai's fabulous pranks and all.

... Chizuki's POV...

Morning came pretty fast, and with it, more people came to the tower. It was not long after breakfast that we met the fourth team to arrive at the tower. Well, we didn't actually meet them, cuz we were still creeping around in the shadows on the ceiling when we saw them. It was the Sound team.

"I don't like them one bit," Hanaha was saying when we saw them walking down the corridors led by a chunin.

"Rest assured, Aki-chan'll mess with them quite a bit before the test is over," I replied. In fact, I was surprised Akirai hadn't said a thing the whole time we stalked the team from Oto. When I turned around to glance at her, I found her eating red-bean dango, greedily stuffing her mouth with two pieces at one go. She was already finishing her fourth stick of dango. I exchanged glances with Hana-chan.

"Aki," Hanaha began patiently. "I don't think you should eat so much dango for breakfast."

"Why not?" Aki-chan asked after swallowing the food in her mouth. I quickly snatched the fifth and sixth stick of dango from her and passed them to my shadow i.e. Yami. Before Akirai could protest, my shadow demon had finished up the remaining dango. Sitting beside me on the ceiling was an inky black cat licking her lips and cleaning her paws.

"Because it's not healthy and we've got a task for you," I told her, while watching Yami amusedly as the demon made a face.

Anko is too sweet for my liking, she said. I almost laughed at that, not because Yami did not like anything too sweet, but because I realized that 'anko', the word for red bean paste, could also mean 'anglerfish' which I'm sure Yami would enjoy eating, and 'anko' could also refer to Mitarashi Anko, our dear proctor for this test, who may or not taste good to a demon.

Anko, eh? Do you know that that woman enjoys eating dango with shiruko (A/N: Japanese red bean soup)? Yami said. I raised an eyebrow. I think I prefer mochi with shiruko than dango.

"Anko likes anko?" Hanaha and Akirai asked at the same time.

"Apparently," I replied. "By the way, what kind of prank are you gonna play on the Sound team, Aki-chan?"

"The Sound team?" For a moment, Akirai stared at us blankly, then she look down at the nins below us. They had stopped outside the room that was assigned to them.

"Oh. Since when did they-? Oh. While I was... Ah. Umm..." I glared at the sheepish girl, annoyed.

"Alright. Alright," said Akirai hastily, waving her hands in front of her. "I'll think of something. Don't worry. I have no intention of letting this team get away from me."

True to her word, Aki-chan came up with a plan by noon. I was stalking Kiba's team when I received word from Yami that Akirai was ready to carry out her third prank. I met Hanaha at the kitchens where she was perched on the counter eating taiyaki. When she saw Yami and I enter the kitchen, she tossed one to the demon and Yami easily caught the fish-shaped snack in her jaws.

"Where's Aki-chan and why are you eating here where anyone who walks past can see?" I asked. She snorted.

"Akirai is practicing her... Pranking elements as she calls it. As for why I'm having a snack here... I've got enough brains to place a genjutsu outside the door. You probably didn't notice it cuz you were sharing Yami's sight."

"Oh," I said and walked over to the fridge. I found a bowl of cold soba in there and I took it out to eat. Pranking elements? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

I'm hungry, Yami suddenly announced, stretching her jaws comically. Now imagine a black house cat with a gigantic head and a abysmal gaping maw. I promptly tore open three cup ramen and emptied the contents into the open mouth of the cat, not caring that the ingredients weren't cook properly yet. Yami made a weird sound that sounded half-snarling half-strangled as the three servings of ramen disappeared down her gullet with one snap of her jaws.

Then she glared at me. I smiled back pleasantly, giving her my best sarcastic-is-there-anything-wrong face. With a loud 'hmph!' she walked away from me, two tails raised high in the air, towards Hanaha who was watching us with an amused smile on her face.

Just then, Akirai popped into the kitchen, grinning widely and looking like she has too much sugar and caffeine in her bloodstream. "Hey guys, the show's startin' in five minutes. Who's watchin'?"

All three of us (Hana-chan, Yami and I) leapt to our feet and rushed out of the kitchen after Aki-chan. We went up the walls and onto the ceiling where we continued to follow a hyper Akirai. By then, we were so used to getting about on the ceiling that none of us experienced any feeling of vertigo whenever we switched from ceiling to floor and vice versa. In fact, we had gotten so comfortable with travelling upside down that Akirai was skipping merrily across the ceiling like nobody's business.

We passed by Kiba's team before we spotted the Sound team. Then we realised that the Oto nins were in fact stalking our Konoha friends. Akirai's crazy grin only widened further when she saw them up to no good. Both Hanaha and I knew what was on her mind because we were all thinking the same thing: Revenge time!

As we followed the Sound team, Akirai explained to us their fighting techniques. Dosu was the guy with the large coat and bandaged face. One of his attacks including making use of sound to damage the ears of his opponent and make his opponent lose his/her sense of balance. Zaku was the guy with 'die' written twice on his shirt, spiky hair and holes on his palms. His attacks made use of an air pressure and sound combi that is powerful enough to crack stone and wipe out anything in its path. The girl was called Kin, and she used the sound frequency of ringing bells to disorientate her opponents and attacks with senbon needles.

"Let the show begin," Aki-chan whispered suddenly, and snapped her fingers. Immediately, the lights flickered and began to blow themselves out. At the same time, a buzzing sound coming from the cameras nearby as they emitted blue sparks. Kin jumped a bit when the first light whistled into darkness, and Zaku yelped when the camera above his head suddenly emitted a great electrical pulse that zapped past him, nearly frying him. Dosu was the only one who appeared to remain calm throughout the whole thing.

When Akirai snapped her fingers a second time, it was my cue to start controlling the doors with shadow ropes. I wasn't sure why I had to do what I had to do, but I followed Aki-chan's instructions anyways. According to the slip of paper she passed me (which was a rough drawing of the corridors ahead, with all the unlocked doors marked with a cross), I was to open and slam certain doors at a certain time in a certain manner. Hanaha's job was to provide Akirai with a grass whistle which she began to blow.

"Who's there?" demanded Zaku when one door slammed shut beside him. I figured these Oto nins would be hard to scare, so I still wasn't sure what Aki-chan's haunted house-like set up was for, what with the slamming of doors and flickering lights. A strange sound was heard when Zaku suddenly raised his palms and let out a burst of air and sound that smashed a door to smithereens. Each door that I slammed slammed shut was destroyed by Zaku a second later.

A few more lights whistled and popped into non-existence, and Kin promptly unleashed several gleaming strings with bells ringing from them. The shadows around us leapt out to sweep away the attack of needles that came next, but that was hardly necessary. With a flick of her hand, electricity jumped from Akirai's fingers and ran through the strings of bells and the oncoming needles. The electricity travelled down the strings with a humming sound before striking Kin, who let go of the strings with a yelp. The needles which had been magnetised by Akirai's electricity were now under her control and she sent them raining down on the Oto nins, blue trails of fire tailing the falling needles. With a ground-shaking sound wave, the Oto nins managed to escape from the onslaught of needles relatively unharmed, save for a few cuts here and there.

It wasn't before long when Dosu joined in the fight against their invisible attackers i.e. us. That was when I registered it. I realised what Akirai had been aiming for. There was the hum of electricity, buzzing electrical cameras, whistling lights, the sound of the grass whistle, popping of blown lights, the beat of the slamming doors, the crashing of shattering doors, the sweet ringing of bells, the vibration of air and sound waves, the stamping of feet... And all at their own time, with their own pattern, and orchestrated by Aki. A performance.

Then suddenly Dosu growled at his two teammates to 'listen up'. I think it was the sound of our uncontrollable laughter that alerted him. All at once the nins of Sound heard what my team heard. And we tried to swallow our laughter.

"We've been made fools of," Dosu said. Zaku cursed loudly. Funnily enough, Aki managed to change the tempo and beat of the 'music' to match the timing of his curses in a split second. When Dosu attempted to use his sound to attack again, we knew that if we didn't do something quick, our ears would bleed and we'd all fall from the ceiling.

No worries, whispered Yami, laughter in her voice as she swept past us and transformed into a large bat-like shadow that soared over the heads of the Oto nins. Kin screamed.

"Time to close the curtains," Akirai whispered to us as Yami disappeared back into the shadows before the startled Oto nins even got a good glimpse of her. She snapped her fingers a last time and there was a loud explosion of heat, light and colours. All four of us began cheering like idiots and that was followed by clouds of white smoke, flickers of little flames and sparks of electricity that filled the air below us. I got the dust out of my eyes just in time to see Aki-chan descend into the thick fumes as she fiddled with something in her hands and disappeared from view as the smoke engulfed her.

I turned to look a Hana-chan, but she was just as bewildered as I was. By the time the smoke cleared, Akirai had returned back to her original position on the ceiling beside us, and the Sound team all sported black faces and singed hair. It looked like someone had smeared ashes or charcoal on their faces. They cursed and sweated loudly before storming away.

When they were out if sight and out of earshot, I asked Aki-chan what had that been all about.

"The haunted orchestra? Or my disappearance?" she asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Both," Hana-chan said before I did. Akirai stared at us both for a good length of time before chuckling.

"Well, actually, the 'orchestra' or 'concert band' as I like to call it, was to turn sound against them. Though it's not the most important part of the prank."

"Then what is?" I asked, now suspicious more than ever.

"The recording," Aki-chan replied gleefully. "The explosion at the end served three purposes: one, to end the 'performance' with a dramatic conclusion. Two, to let them know that the person who pranked them the first time will not be relenting anytime soon. Remember what I did to them before the written exam?"

We all did. She had half-fried them after they attacked a fellow Konoha genin. It was only then did I notice the similarity between this explosion and the one she just created. She grinned impishly.

"Well, last but not least, the explosion served as a cover under which I managed to sneak up to each if them without their knowing, and hid a device I created somewhere on them."

"What device?" Okay, now I was curious.

"A small device the size of a flea, that I used to record certain sounds. These devices will then play back that certain sound that they have recorded. I have programmed them to activate whenever the sound of other people can be heard, meaning that as long as these Oto nin come across anyone who is not from their team or our team, the device will play that recorded sound. They'll detonate when I activate its self-destruct function."

"When on earth did you make this and how the hell-ah never mind. Forget it," I said when I saw her smirking, her smile stretching from ear to ear quite scarily.

"So... What sounds did you record on those devices of yours?" Hanaha asked.

I thought the ridiculous concert of slamming doors, ringing bells, pulsing, humming, buzzing electricity, whistling and whatnot had been reasonable. It was satisfying to watch the Sound team get frightened, frustrated, and act like a bunch of idiots. I guess I should have known that that would not have been good enough for Akirai. The strange 'orchestra' played that hour was insignificant if you compare it to the bigger prank it contributed later on.

Some time later, we began to get obsessed over stalking the Sound team. They provided us, and many besides, quite a lot of entertainment. True to Aki-chan's word, every time they came across any chuunin, jounin, a member of Kiba's team or the two Sand teams, Kin could be heard cursing coarse words and vulgarities in a loud male voice even when her lips did not move (it was Zaku's recorded voice.) On top of that, Zaku could be heard screaming like a girl though his mouth was firmly shut (that was Kin's recorded scream) and the a strange medley of sounds followed Dosu: a weird popping sound, the sound of stamping feet, applause, laughter and cheering. And it seems like try as they might, they could not find or get rid of the annoying devices that Akirai had planted on them.

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**That's all for now. I know if i follow the pattern of my previous chapters, this chapter should be another memory. But i think i've run out of memories. Any ideas? Please review, kay?**


	17. Chapter 17: Monkey Business

**Here's the chapter I've been procrastinating for months to upload! Sorry for the wait! Hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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Chapter 12: Monkey Business

_"I'm hearing voices in my head and they don't like you!"_

Have you ever tried to fold a thousand paper cranes in one minute? Or a rose plant complete with prickly briars and thorny vines out of one sheet of paper? Or maybe a paper doll that can move on it's own? I doubt it. Now try doing any of the above while trying to avoid getting hit by a stray fireball or a random attacking dandelion seed with fangs. That was what training was like in the tower in the middle of the forest of death. You would think that the arena would be big enough for most attacks to veer a wide range from you especially if you're not the one in the middle of sparring, but no.

While waiting for my turn to spar with Akirai, I had been experimenting with paper. I was wondering if I could create something out of paper and make it look as life-like and near to the original. Then I found that I could use my chakra to make the paper change color, and I had lots of fun with that later on.

"What are you doing?" Hana-chan asked me when she finished sparring with Aki-chan. Then she stared at my paper doll. I had created a life-size paper girl (around the age of seven) that had two cute ponytails and wore a Lolita dress. She had brown hair, large unblinking blue eyes and no expression on her face. In one hand, she held a sheet of paper twice her size.

"Oh Kami, Aki! Come and have a look at this!" Hanaha yelled over her shoulder. Akirai came running over.

"What is it? I want my fight you know?" she said as she sent a volt of electricity at us. All of us dodged, including my paper doll. The electricity missed the doll by a mere centimeter. Now let's see if this doll of mine will work as it should.

To my great delight, the doll did whatever I imagined it to do-call it 'command' if you want, but I prefer the word 'imagine'. Turning upon Akirai, the doll waved the sheet of paper that it was holding and with a burst of chakra (my chakra), the paper folded itself into a giant sword and my dear doll leapt into the air, swinging the sword down onto Akirai.

"GYAAAH!" she screamed comically as she repeatedly leapt, dodged and did backflips to avoid getting hit by my doll. It was quite entertaining to watch our team's prankster get pranked upon. And I was also satisfied with having discovered a new paper technique. One could say that I had originally developed the idea for this paper doll from Kankuro's puppets.

When Aki-chan, quite fed up (she never had a very good temper with her highly volatile nature), decided throw a small explosive of sorts at my poor paper doll, I was pleased to find that after the doll had been reduced to thousands of paper shreds, I could still control these paper shreds and make them form back into the doll I had made before... Or I could just use them as tiny paper blades.

Thus, my sparring with Akirai began, wind and paper against fire and lightning. Being the prankster that she was, she always had a few tricks up her sleeve, and from my spar with her, I discovered, created and developed tricks of my own. And in the midst of competing against each other, we also discovered new combos such as fire cyclones, more ways to create explosions and creating paper that can be charged with invisible electricity.

I was supposed to spar with Hana-chan next, but when my bout with Akirai ended (it was a draw), the wild rose girl was already fast asleep and curled in an undamaged corner of the arena. The area around her were covered in brambles and briars that waved at us threateningly when we got close, while around that protective barrier of thorns were charred stone and debris. That brought us to two conclusions: One, a fight between Aki-chan and I could end up quite disastrous. Two, Hana-chan's plants were very protective of her-almost like Yami's shadows and Shukaku's sand.

In the end, we had to end training earlier than expected because Hanaha clearly needed her beauty sleep and Akirai's caffeine and sugar level was dropping. I suppose we should have foreseen this cuz the both of them weren't used to spending the night not sleeping, let alone training. So Aki-chan and I took turns trying to get rid of those damn thorns that surrounded the sleeping girl which were as tenacious as weeds. Weeds. Yeah. That's what we began to see those $&#%*€£¥? things as.

"That's it," Aki-chan announced suddenly. I stared at her with a blank face. Now what? She merely frowned and pouted at the briars, then with a flick of the wrist, the tangled thorny mass of plants exploded in a shower of smoke, ash, charred leaves and thorns. All that was left was a burnt patch that circled an alarmed, awake but unharmed Hana-chan, where the briars once were.

"Come on," I told her crossly, still not quite happy with her irritating thorny shield. "We're ending tonight's training early. You can go to bed and have a more comfortable sleep there. Thank Akirai you're awake, or else we'd have to carry you back to our room."

This is why I rarely got angry. My friends always did the getting angry thing for me. At that moment, Akirai chose to yell at Hanaha (if one can consider yelling without raising your voice 'yelling'... But we couldn't very well wake the whole tower up so...) and scolded her madly for her annoying thorns.

"Next time, we shan't bother trying to get rid of them so we might bring you back to our room to sleep. We shall just leave you here to sleep on the cold hard floor and let you wake up tomorrow with an aching back, an aching neck and aching-"

"Enough," I said, slightly amused yet exasperated. I found it quite hard to remain angry when someone else is being angry for the same reasons as I was. And I was naturally more calm than Aki-chan. I think it's due to amount of time I spend with Yami. The demon herself was lquite peaceful, preferring to do her demon stuff with poise and subtlety. In her opinion, that was what a demon should be like. To lher, rashness, brute force, volatile anger and animalistic actions without thought is not part of what a demon is, but part of what a monster is. In other words, she felt that Shukaku did not deserve to be called a demon.

"What? I'm not done ranting," Aki-chan said as she turned her glare to me. But before I could retort back at her, Yami promptly made her appearance. See what I mean when no one really allows me to be the one who's angry?

**Oh be quiet, Firefly. It's past midnight and spitfires like you should be quietly sleeping and not disturbing the night with the light of the ****sun,** Yami said in a bored voice as circled my feet lazily, her bright azure and crimson eyes fixed on Akirai.

Aki-chan huffed, crossed her arms, and began to pout and glare at the wall. I couldn't help but shake my head while grinning. This girl...

"Hey, so are we gonna stand here the whole night watching Aki stare holes into anything she sees or are we going back to our rooms to sleep?" Hanaha demanded. So all four of us-with Yami dragging Akirai along with her shadow-headed back to our rooms where Hanaha made a beeline to the bathroom and locked it before any of us could do a thing.

When Hana-chan came out of the bath, I dashed in before Akirai, knowing that the water would be scalding hot should I ever bathe after her. The strange thing was, when I had finished my bath and came out drying my hair with a towel, I saw a fluffy mound of white on Hanaha's bed and Akirai was no where to be seen.

"Hey, before you fall dead asleep like a log... Where's Aki-chan?" I asked Hanaha. A pillow came flying at me which I dodged.

"I funno. She said somefing about haffing a fabulous idea anf shot out of e room fike a meteor," came Hana-chan's muffled voice through a couple of pillows. Each bed was provided, with two large pillows, but Hanaha had taken mine cuz I wouldn't need them, and now she has Akirai's too cuz she seemed to have concluded that whatever Aki-chan's fabulous idea was, pillows was not part of it. Hence, Hana-chan now has six pillows minus the one she threw at me, making that five.

When I went up to the roof that night, I wondered if Akirai's fabulous idea had anything to do with the team we had just seen walking in when we passed by the tower's entrance on our way back to our room.

...Akirai's POV...

Morning came too fast. It came charging into the room through the window, ran over me like a horde of stampeding bulls and went off again, out of the windows to disturb someone else's sleep.

When I got up, hair totally messed up and sticking everywhere, Hana-chan and Chii-kun were already ready and dressed for the day. I guess it's my fault for sleeping so late last night... Or rather, so early in the morning... Unlike Hana-chan who got seven hours of beauty sleep, and Chii-kun, who didn't sleep at all.

"Hey sleepy-head! Get up and get change! If we don't hurry to the kitchens soon, all the other team's would come before us and eat all the food!" Hana-chan said. The one day she wakes up earlier than I do... Sigh. I need candy. Sugar. Chocolate. Or coffee.

Luckily for me, the kitchen had everything I needed. There was a box filled with packets of tea leaves and coffee powder in one of the cupboards below the counter. In the fridge, there were seven bars of chocolate: caramel, nut and dark flavored. I grabbed two bars of caramel. Chii-kun took the rest. I think chocolate is the only candy that she eats more than I do.

When I was done with my breakfast of coffee, onigiri and some anko buns (coffee and onigiri do not taste very nice eaten together, unfortunately) I left my team and went off by myself. I was feeling quite awake now, and I needed to spy on a certain team just a bit more before setting my last plan in action. This would be the last prank I play in this tower for this was the second last day we'd spend here and I intend on just plain relaxing the next day, which would also be the last day of this test. And if this is going to be my last prank here, I fully intend for it to go off with-as that blonde onii-san from Iwa would say-an awesome fantabulous bang!

My next and last victims were Team Gai. Negi-kun, Lee-kun and Ten-chan had just arrived late last night/early this morning and I had begun myplanning since then. I had seen Lee-kun's fighting before-with Emo-Chicken-Butt-Head-kun before the written test, but I knew nuts about the other two. I mean, I could guess what Neji-kun's fighting style might be like, since I knew he was related in some way or another to Hina-chan, but Ten-chan? Totally clueless. Not that I had any intention of involving her in my prank. This is what I call 'being merciful'. Unlike a certain demon-girl who prefers not to kill but torture her victims slowly, instead of yours truly who prefers to let her (my) victims die quickly and rest in peace.

On the other hand, I think I shall just do something really mild and minor to Ten-chan. As for Neji-kun, who needs to loosen up a bit, and Lee-kun who needs to slow down and have a bit less 'youthfulness' in him... Ah. Just wait and see. I'll have 'em fixed in no time! Who knew this exam was going to be so entertaining.

...

When I went back after I finished up my plans, and found Hana-chan making a little garden on a plate using fried seaweed, rice, sashimi and wasabi. Chii-kun had just completed a series of paper-napkin-art and was arranging them on the kitchen counter. She looked up.

"You're back," she said so casually that it sounded as if she knew I coming the moment I set my feet in the direction of the kitchen-two kilometers away in front of Team Gai's room door. And no doubt she did, what with the shadows acting as her spies and all.

"Yep, and surely other people would have come to have breakfast here during the time I was gone?" I replied. They seemed to have stayed in the kitchen ever since I left them.

"Yea... We hid away when they came-the Fly Team and the Sound Team. And moved back in when they left," Hana-chan spoke up. The team whose weapons got jinxed and the team whose specialty was turned against them? Why? Why? Why? Why did I have to miss seeing that?Imagine: a team walks in, all impassive but wary, guarding their weapons at all times. Another team walks in. One guy starts screaming like a girl with his mouth shut. The other guy's feet makes strange popping, stamping, cheering and laughing noises when he walks. And the girl starts shouting and cursing at the other team in a coarse male voice, also with her mouth shut. And the team she was 'cursing' at was from Suna. (A/N: this is a pleasant coincidence. I only realized it after I wrote it. If you don't get what I'm talking about, nevermind.)

"Did a fight break out?" I asked, a bit too eagerly I think. Unlike Chii-kun or Hana-chan, I can't seem to keep my face from not showing what I feel. Or maybe I just don't bother trying.

"Depends on what you define as a fight, I guess. Kin now has a broken bloody nose. And Takoyaki has a black-eye. Oh, and both Zaku and Washi-Washi have great egg-size bumps on their heads. Hoot and Dosu are the only two without a single scratch on them." Hana-chan told me. "Iguess you could say that those two are also the more sensible ones."

"You mean like, you. Or Chii-kun," I said. It was just a comment. A statement. A fact. But guess who had to rub it in?

"Oh wow. You actually admitted that you ain't sensible," Chii-kun exclaimed. I couldn't tell how much of it was true surprise and how much of it was sarcasm. Which made it all the worse.

"Hmph! Anyhow, my last prank plan is due today. Right now," I told them. Okay, so I was being grumpy, like an immature brat, but hey! That doesn't mean I'm completely without sense! I mean-wait. I don't think I should start ranting now. Maybe later. But right now, I had a prank to pull.

An earlier recon told me that Team Gai would be coming for breakfast anytime now, so I pursed my lips and whistled. Four of the six kitchen lights flickered off, instantly darkening the room. I motioned for my teammates to scoot up the walls and hide in the shadows on the ceiling as I heard the footsteps of another team coming towards the kitchen.

We were all crouched in the dark on the ceiling when Team Gai walked in. Just in time. Lee-kun practically pounces on the refrigerator, while stoic Neji-kun just waited for his teammate to quit monopolizing the fridge and its contents and stood in the middle of the kitchen with an I-do-not-know-this-guy face. Ten-chan however, went and joined Lee-kun in checking out the fridge.

Their breakfast consisted of bread, butter, egg (cold and hardboiled) and mayonnaise. Oh, and canned tuna too. Typical sandwich combos. Lee-kun got himself a packet of chocolate milk and-wait. There's chocolate milk? Fine, maybe I'll have some with my lunch later. Hopefully it won't run out by then.

On with the plan. I snapped my fingers and the kitchen door blew itself apart. Okay, so I may actually get into trouble with the chuunins and jounins for damaging so much of their property but to hell with it. For the sake of fun, I wouldn't even mind pouring superglue into the Hokage's hat and add flowers to-wait. Wait. Wait a minute! I did not just say that! Ignore that. I didn't mean it. Well, I did but... That's not the point. The point is, Team Gai got distracted by the exploding door which was just what I need. Distraction.

As soon as their heads turned, I slipped three glass vials out of my pocket and uncorked them. The pink-ish orange liquid went into Ten-chan's soybean milk, the white-gray liquid went into Lee-kun's chocolate milk, and the lime green liquid went into Neji-kun's... Plain milk? How plain. (That wasn't meant to be a pun or anything by the way.)

When Chii-kun and Hana-chan gave me really strange looks with raised eyebrows (speaking of eyebrows, Lee-kun seems to have too much... maybe he could give some to Chii-kun's Desert Boy? Forget I just thought of that. If Gaara-san doesn't kill me first, I'll bet Chii-kun will torture me for thinking of such stuff), I grinned back at them and gestured for them to wait and see.

The team got edgier after they watched wood splinters fall to the ground where a door used to be. They drank up their drinks quickly (it was better this way cuz then they wouldn't notice the slight difference in the taste of their tampered drinks) and took their sandwiches with them as they left the kitchen. Without further prompting, all three of us followed the team close behind. All will be fine as long as Neji-kun doesn't look up and see three suspicious-looking shadows on the ceiling with his Byakugan.

The drugs-yes, drugs-took effect seven minutes after the team left the kitchen. Or rather, ten minutes after consumption. Ten-chan was the first to show any symptoms/side effects of having taken the drugs. Sleeping drugs to be exact. She fell unconscious into a startled Lee-kun's arms and no matter how hard Lee-kun shook her, she remained knocked out. It was interesting to watch Lee-kun blink his wide-eyes like an owl before passing Ten-chan to Neji-kun who, I might add, carried her gallantly. Like a gentleman. And not the formal kind of gentleman. It was Lee's dramatic kind of gentleman.

Around the corner came Might Gai, smiling widely at his team, white teeth sparkling, until he saw Ten-chan unconscious and halted in his footsteps down the corridor. As dramatic as can be, he started exclaiming and asking Lee-kun and Neji-kun what had happened. Before Lee-kun could say a word, Neji-kun started exclaiming back to Gai-sensei about how she had suddenly fainted for unknown reasons and Lee had caught her. Lee-kun remained stiff and silent.

I heard the soft sound of paper rustling close to my ear and turned to see Chii-kun holding a rectangular piece of paper in front of my face. The paper said: Personality swap?

Ah. So she got it. I grinned at her and looked over at Hana-chan. She had something black and cuboid in her hands. It was a camera. Where on earth did she get a camera fr-Hey! That's my camera! ...Nevermind. Now we can record this whole thing down if the shinobi watching us via the cameras installed inside this building aren't already doing so.

"Ne-Neji. Are you feeling alright?" Gai-sensei asked Neji-kun. Neji-kun promptly gave Gai-sensei a quick grin showing white sparkling teeth. Why does it look so wrong on Neji-kun's face? Wait. It probably looks wrong on anyone's face except Lee-kun's and Gai-sensei's.

"What should we do with her?" Lee-kun asked as he gestured in Ten-chan's direction. Wow. He sounded so serious. Yes, I know I was the one who planned it this way, but it was always still quite surprising to see one's plan shine with such fabulous results.

Now Gai-sensei stared at Lee-kun with wide disbelieving eyes.

"Lee! What has happened to all your youthfulness? Why, even Neji is more youthful than you today!" Gai-sensei exclaimed. Lee-kun just stared at him.

"..."

"Lee! Oh Lee!" Now Gai-sensei looked devastated. His beloved pupil was outshines by Neji-kun even in terms of 'youthfulness'. "Your youth! Go run two hundred laps around the entire tower now!"

"That's unnecessary," Lee-kun replied almost irritably. I heard Hana-chan gasp softly beside me. Then I heard more gasps (including Gai-sensei's) when Neji-kun launched himself into a passionate speech about how running is a good way to get rid of extra unwanted hyper energy to Lee-kun.

Then Gai-sensei proceeded to drag Lee-kun into a run and left Neji-kun to carry Ten-chan and run behind them. I must have given him an overdose of the energy drug... He easily caught up with the two green monkeys (as Yami-chan and Chii-kun would say. I think the nickname's appropriate.) I had no problem speeding across the ceiling after them, and when I turned around, I saw a black shadowy nekomata running right behind me (Yami-chan is fast. No surprises there), but Chii-kun and Hana-chan were far behind. Oh well.

I ran back to my teammates and grabbed my camera back from Hana-chan, then sped off again with Yami-chan at my heels. Even I had troubletrying find Team Gai after they had disappeared from sight when I had backtracked to get the camera. I didn't have super-training like Lee-kun in taijutsu, neither was I on drugs. But I did have knowledge of clay and energy-based chakra (lightning and fire, to be exact) and I put those to good use.

Like how blonde-Iwa-onii-san taught me, I molded clay in my hands as I ran, making sure to mold some of my blood into it. That was how I infuse chakra into my clay, and that is also why my clay is usually red. I made a large swallow out of the clay and boarded it. Then I rode it upside-down across the ceiling as I chased after Team Gai. Yami-chan then took on the form of a large black shadowy swallow and soared right below me, perhaps as precaution-to hide me from view.

I didn't actually follow them for two hundred laps, but found a nice corner to hide in and watch them whenever they passed by. Occasionally, I'd go to another part of the tower to record them there. Then, a few minutes later, Chii-kun appeared.

She was riding on a paper eagle and it seemed like she left Hana-chan behind. Now that there was two of us, I assigned both of us to watch certain areas where I knew Team Gai would surely pass. The camera would then be shared and passed between the two of us by Yami using her super-shadow-speed. When Hana-chan joined us on Team Gai's hundredth round, we assigned her a part of both of our 'watch point's and shared the camera between all three of us.

Watching them was very entertaining, especially with Lee-kun's half-annoyed half-impassive face as he reluctantly tags along in the running, Neji-kun's gallantry, sparkling smile and drama, and Gai-sensei's sad confusion at everything. After the run, Gai-sensei burst into tears (oh the drama!) and hugged Neji-kun rather awkwardly.

"Neji!" he exclaimed while sobbing theatrically. "I'm so proud of your youthfulness, but Lee! Oh Lee! What has happened to my poor Lee?"

"You're squashing Tenten, sensei!" Neji-kun replied as he pulled out of Gai-sensei's hug (remember, he was still carrying Ten-chan bridal style). At the same time, Lee-kun said stiffly, "Nothing happened to me. What are you talking about?"

There was a rustle of paper and I turned to glance at Chii-kun. We were on the ceiling of one of the corridors near the entrance of the tower when this was happening. Hana-chan was still on her way here-her last post had been kind of far away when Team Gai had stopped running. Chii-kun held out a piece of paper and it said: Tenten, I understand. A sleeping pill can do that. Neji, I understand. Too much wine, caffeine and sugar can do that. But how on earth did you make Lee so 'stone'?

I grinned, and took out a pen. I took the paper from her and began to write my answer, because unlike her, I couldn't make words appear on paper with my chakra. Hell, if I used chakra, the paper would probably catch fire.

I passed the paper back to her. As she read it, Hana-chan appeared from behind her and began reading too. If was actually quite easy yet complex. The 'potion' worked like a sleeping drug with slower and milder effects. But I added a few other components to the drug to enhance certain effects and make Lee-kun feel a) annoyed and crabby b) somewhat tired mentally such that acting like his usual self would be too tiring for him to consider and c) muddle his mind a bit so that he momentarily forgets how he usually acts (this part was also including in Neji-kun's energy drug).

It was good we had the camera, because we managed to get quite a few good shots. Like when Gai-sensei started giving Lee-kun a lecture, and Neji-kun began to scribble down notes furiously, while Lee-kun remains impassive and gives Gai-sensei a slightly annoyed glare. Or when Gai-sensei performed his usual outburst/exclamation on youthfulness (perhaps to hype Lee-kun up) and Lee-kun still had that sullen glare on his face... Neji-kun on the other hand, would join in with his own OOC hyperactivity.

By then, I was really hoping that those people watching the tests and going-ons in the tower would get to see all this. Imagine, Anko-san sees all this, then calls the other chuunins and jounins to watch too. Maybe even Ibiki-san.

"How long will this last?" Chii-kun asked me sometime later.

"Unfortunately, the effects of the drugs will wear off soon... In about another half-hour or so," I replied while pouting. It was a pity that throughout the entire personality-switching episode, Team Gai didn't encounter any other team which would have provided even more entertainment. They were supposed to have met Kiba-kun's team by now. I suppose I had miscalculated that part. Pity.

...Chizuki's POV...

"I can't wait to show that to Team 7 when we next meet them," I said when we were back in our room.

"Seriously? I can't wait to show the whole village and Chuunin Exam participants this recording," Hanaha said, lounging on her bed. Akirai was going through the scenes in the camera again and deleting the parts that were unnecessary.

We still had an hour before lunch. Well actually, lunchtime was already over, but we needed to make sure that no one was still in the kitchens having their meals when we go for our lunch. Yes we intend to keep our presence in this tower a secret until the test ends.

"When and where do you think we should screen this recording for everyone to see?" Aki-chan asked as she kept the camera.

"We could ask the Hokage," I suggested.

"You think the Hokage would approve?" Hana-chan asked me with one eyebrow raised. I stared at her.

"Yes," I deadpanned. No, honestly. He might. There was a thirty percent chance of him supporting us but there was still a chance. And maybe if Aki-chan 'attacked' the Hokage with her puppy-dog face, he really might just give in to us.

"I think..." Hana-chan began and Akirai and I fixed our attention on her. "I think... We should just steal the equipment and appliances and set it up in the middle of the village for everyone to see."

Before I could say anything-such as That's crazy, Hanaha. I thought you were the sane one in this group. Or You're supposed to be our team leader and here you are promoting crime-Aki-chan promptly exclaimed, "That's so evil... I like it!"

And I wasn't the most law-abiding person around either, so I contributed whole-heartedly to their plans on how to show everyone this clip before the end of the chuunin exams. Why before the end of the chuunin exams? So that the foreign nins could watch too of course!

"Has it ever occured to you that once we screen this, everyone, including Team Gai, will know who was the culprit behind this prank?" Hanaha suddenly asked. Oh yeah. I never thought of that.

"Who said we were going to reveal ourselves when screening this recorded clip?" Akirai replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

We went for lunch after we finished up our post-second-exam plans. The problem with going down for lunch when everyone's finished is that there's very little food left for us. When I say little, I mean just three cups of ramen (medium sized), one platter of sushi and a couple of mochis for the three of us (excluding Yami). And that's little indeed. Thank Kami, Choji had yet to arrive at this tower.

In the end, each of us had a one cup ramen each and three miserable sushi each (salmon sashimi, ebi and unagi for me). The remaining sushi and mochi were wolfed down by a very hungry black cat. Of course, there was, technically no need to feed a demon who is more or less 'immortal', but ordinary mortal food was just a poor substitute of what she would have liked to eat. E.g. Humans.

The rest of the afternoon was spent shadowing the various teams in the tower again. I refused to shadow the Sand Siblings, not after last time. I suspect Gaara's one genin in this tower who knows of our presence here. Or at least my presence. And all because of a freakin' sandwich.

So I shadowed the Sound Team while Aki-chan shadowed Team Gai, claiming that she had to see how were they after the effects of the drug has worn off and Hana-chan shadowed the Sand Siblings out of interest for their abilities. We decided that we would check on our fellow peers from the Leaf (Kiba's team) later on as well as shadow the other Sand Team (otherwise known as the Fly Team) together.

It was quite entertaining to watch the Sound team from the shadows, especially since Aki-chan's last prank on them was still in action. She planned to activate the self-destruct mechanism inside those tiny metal 'bugs' she planted on them at the end of this test.

Then when a chuunin/jounin (can't tell what rank is he) walked by, Kin began cursing in Zaku's voice while Zaku started screaming in Kin's voice and a medley of strange sounds accompanied Dosu. The shinobi stopped, frowned and stared at them. Then I decided that even if he was higher ranked than the Sound team, he shouldn't try to mess with them. So I tugged on his shadow a bit to get his attention. When he looked up and saw me mostly hidden in the shadows (I had revealed myself on purpose), I shook my head and put a finger to my lips.

When the Sound team left, glaring at the shinobi all the while, daring him to do something e.g. Laugh or scold them like shit, the shinobi gestured to me to descend. I landed on the floor beside him silently, still making sure that the shadows were covering me from anyone else other than the shinobi.

"What were you doing?" he asked me in a reproachful whisper.

"Gathering information from potential opponents," I replied smoothly, a cheeky grin on my face. The shinobi raised an eyebrow.

"Right. And what about the girl who was cursing while not cursing and the boy who was screaming but not screaming? And the-"

"-guy who was making weird sounds as he walked?" I finished for him. "That was... Not their fault. Well, not directly at least. Let's just say it seemed like quite a good lesson for them."

"I could tell. Did your team have anything to do with it?"

"What? You mean you didn't see it all on those cameras you guys set up all over the tower? Hanaha and I participated in the... Plan. But themastermind was Akirai."

The shinobi sighed. "Konoha's next worst prankster after Uzumaki."

I gave him a look of feigned innocence. "Shouldn't it be next _best_? Not next worst?"

"Forget it. Just don't cause to much trouble while you guys are at it."

"Don't worry," I said, grinning. "Our last prank was two hours ago. We won't be pranking anymore... Until the next test starts anyways."

He gave us a weird look and walked off, shaking his head as he went. Then I leapt back up onto the ceiling, covering myself with ample shadow, and swiftly ran off to catch up with the Sound team.

When I found the team I had been looking for, I found that the Sound nins were having a glaring contest with... Guess who? The Sand Siblings. With people cursing, screaming and other weird sounds in the background. Which may explain the glaring contest. Kin and Temari were glaring at each other as if their looks could kill, Kankuro and Zaku were staring at each other with smoldering eyes. Dosu and Gaara? Just cold calculating looks. Until Gaara noticed my presence and his icy gaze flickered upwards towards the ceiling where I was crouching before returning to Dosu. Of course, that should have been expected, especially after the last time when he found me spying on them. I waited in the shadows, knowing that a) Gaara definitely wouldn't let the Sound team know I was shadowing them. Whether or not he told his team was another matter. And b) I would get my answers soon.

**Look who's here? Why, if it isn't Yami's little jinchuriki,** Shukaku's voice came echoing into my head. **Spying on others again?**

**You got a problem with that, you mongrel?**

**I'm not a mongrel! Besides, I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to your host.**

_Must you two argue three out every four times you meet?_ I interupted them. _Shukaku, answer four questions and I'll get Yami to stop __annoying you for today._

**Hey Yami, seems like your host has gotten you on her leash, eh? Well then, what if I don't answer those four questions?**

I ignored Yami's protests and flipped through the stuff I found in Shukaku's mind the day I used my Dark Clone. _If you don't answer my __questions-and they had better be good answers too-then I'll let every demon and every spirit I meet know that the ichi-bi enjoys staring at Pinkie'a butt._

I heard a very long (and loud) silence in my head. Then... **Fine. What ****are your questions?**

I grinned at my victory. _Question one: What happened to the sandwich?_ Yami groaned in exasperation at the stupid question while Shukaku  
just chuckled.

**He ate it. Next question?**

_Kami. He ate it._ I was surprised.

**Next question?**

_Oh. Right. Does Temari-san and Kankuro know of my presence?_

**No. He didn't tell them. Next question?**

_Okay... Uh... What's going on now? Like, what happened here? Before we came?_

**Nothing much. We met these Oto nins and as soon as we saw them, the girl started cursing, the boy screamed like a girl, and that other one made weird sounds as he walked. So they were blocked by us, cuz we wanted to find out what the he'll their problem was.**

_Oh. Alright then. I guess that's it. See you around._ Then I quickly shadow body-flickered away, not bothering about the confrontation. My team already knew both their attacks and it was unlikely a particularly major confrontation would occur for me to watch, not when they'll probably get a proper fight in the next test which was tomorrow.

I flickered past the Sand Siblings and two metres away from them was Hana-chan. I paused beside her for a moment to relay the info I got from Shukaku, minus the sandwich one.

"Does your Desert Boy know of our presence yet?" Hanaha whispered back.

"Either he or Shukaku must have deduced by now that if I'm in the tower, you guys must be too. But I don't think he knows you're shadowing them yet," I replied.

"'Kay. You can go on first. I wanna see if they're gonna fight."

So I left Hanaha behind and headed off to find Akirai. Once Hana-chan's done with her shadowing, we could go shadow Kiba's team, then exchange what new info we've gotten and have dinner. Everything's all nicely planned. I couldn't wait for tomorrow though. Tomorrow was going to be slack until the afternoon and the next test would be announced.

The only thing I was getting worried about was the absence of two Konoha teams: Shikamaru's and Naruto's. I do hope they'll make it here by tomorrow.

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**That's all for now. Will try to update soon! Please review!**


	18. Chapter 18: Memory V

**First memory i'm writing for Akirai. It's about how she and Hanaha met. When they were kids.**

**Enjoy.**

******Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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_Memory V: Bara_

"The trouble with experience is that it usually teaches you something you really didn't want to know."

_It was the annual Autumn fest where all the harvest was brought in and traded in the market. Otou-san was here to trade too-or that's what he said-even though we weren't from this village. (Though I had no idea why a shinobi would want to cone to this remote village to trade). For once he brought me along though. This was my first time out of Kumo._

_The village was located somewhere between Kusa and Iwa. Otou-san said that we'll be moving to Iwa soon. I didn't know why, but didn't care to know why. This place was awesome! Everything's so colorful. There were red and golden apples, pale green and dark purple grapes, orange persimmons and mikans, peaches and berries of assorted colors: blue, red and black. There was also corn, rice, potatoes, herbs and spices and other stuff sold there. I wanna eat them! I bet they're really sweet. _

_Otou-san left me to wander about alone when he went off to trade somewhere else. The market was divided into a two sections: Food and Clothes. The clothes section sold cloth, silk, skins, jewelry and the like. That's where he went to. I hope he doesn't get lost. He's supposed to have a much better sense of direction than me, but why did he turn left after the mikan stall? I thought the clothes section was on the right? I didn't know what was on the left, but it was definitely not where he'd sell leather. _

_The candies sold at the food section looked so appetizing that it took my mind off my strange Otou-san for awhile. He had given me some pocket money to buy some snacks and I was going to make the most out of them. First stop: Cinnamon and Honey Apples!_

_The candied apples were delicious. I bought another four more after my fifth helping. I bet Okaa-san would kill me if she found out. But hey, I can't help it if I've got a sweet tooth! I was too busy eating my candied apples to notice three boys creeping up to me until they snatched away three of the candied apples and ran off with them._

_I gave chase immediately. They looked around two years older than me, so they had longer legs, but I wasn't the type to get put off by that. Not when they stole my food. I wasn't called a little spitfire for nothing. Literally too. I found out last year, on my fourth birthday, that I could influence fire. My birthday cake got half-burnt because of that though. _

_I followed those boys into the spice and herbs section of the food market, throwing fireballs at them as I did so. My aim and control wasn't very good, so I tried my very best to stay one metro away from any wooden structure i.e. The makeshift stalls. _  
_Unsurprisingly, none of the fireballs hit their mark, and it only made those boys run even faster. Just as I was thinking that I was going to lose them, one of them got hit by something on the head and fell. I caught up with them as the others made the mistake of pausing a moment and looking back at the one who fell. _

_I punched the nearest one in the stomach. My punch wasn't very strong, but when you add fire to the mix... At least the only thing I burnt was his shirt which now had a smoking hole in it. His skin was singed a little, but that didn't matter. Now at close range, I could aim better, and managed to scorch the hair of the next boy with a fireball. _

_In the end, I managed to get back two candied apples from them-the third got dirtied by the boy who fell. All three boys ran off after that. When I bent down to get a good look at the thing that had hit the boy who fell, I saw that it was a large, round and hard seed of some sort. _

_Looking up, I tried to spot who threw that seed, but all the stall keepers were busy trading stuff and the only idle person was sitting by an herbs stall that had no stall keeper. and making some braids with some thin vines. She had long pale blonde hair that looked almost white under the sunlight, fair skin and emerald green eyes. She was wearing a short cream dress with green pants and boots. Quite the opposite of me: I was tan-due to playing too much in the sun-and was wearing a black shirt, red skirt (with shorts underneath) and long black-and-red socks with black shoes. _

_"Ohayo!" I greeted her as I approached her, wondering if this mild and delicate looking girl could be the one who three that seed. She looked up and stared at me. Then she smiled and stuck out her hand, "Hi." _

_I shook hands with her, then asked, "What's your name and how old are you?"_

_"I'm five. But I won't tell you my name until you tell me yours," the girl said with a grin. Oh, so she's the same age as I am. _

_"I'm Ryuusei Akirai," I said. "From Kumo. Where do you come from?"_

_"Moriten Hanaha," the girl replied. "I was born in Kusa."_

_"Wanna play?" I asked. _

_"Play what? I'm supposed to watch this stall until my mum comes back." _

_"Your mother sells herbs here?" _

_"Not really. This is just a temporary thing. Tomorrow she'll be going back to chasing missing-nins or whatever ninjas do," Hana-chan said. "Who knows why she suddenly decided to come here to sell herbs though. And now she goes off to who knows where and leaves me to tend her stall."_

_"Eh? Same with me! Otou-san is a ninja too! But today he decided to come here and sell leather, then disappeared off to somewhere that's definitely not the clothes section of the market," I said in surprise. _

_"... Do you think our parents know each other?" Hana-chan suddenly said in a low voice. _

_"Eh? You mean they could be in cahoots?" I asked. "That means selling herbs or leather or whatnot was just a cover?"_

_"Who knows. Let them ninjas do what they want. It's none of our business," Hana-chan said and went back to braiding vines... And ignoring me._

_"What's that you're making?" I asked irritably. Hey, these vines were getting more attention from her than me. What? So vines are more interesting than I am? _

_"A hidden threat," she replied, smiling. As if she had a lovely secret no one else knows. _

_"Huh? How can that braid of vines be a threat? Are you going to strangle someone with it or what?" I asked. I watched as she finished her braiding and linked both ends of the braid together to form a bracelet._

_"Here. Hold it," Hana-chan said, still smiling that secret smile and handed me the braid. I took it from her gingerly, wondering what to do with it. It was so thin and limp in my hands, I was sure it'd break before it can even strangle anyone. _

_I had a split-second warning when Hana-chan suddenly grinned really wide, but I didn't react fast enough. Before I knew it, I yelped as my fingers began to bleed. Instinctively, I set the braided vines on fire as I dropped them. _

_"Ow ow ow ow ow! What the hell was that?" I cried as I sucked my bleeding fingers. I looked at the burning vines on the stone floor and saw through the flames that they now had tiny little thorns. Hana-chan was laughing away. _

_"I told you they were a hidden threat. Just think. If I were to give this to someone I wish to punish, then each time that person does something I don't like, I could just make the bracelet grow thorns and prick 'im. And the more severe the offense, the longer and sharper the thorns. Eventually..."_

_"... The guy's hand will get cut off by the thorns. Wow. I didn't know you could be so... What's that word? Ah, yes. Devilish," I said in wonder. Hana-chan raised an eyebrow._

_"Too devilish for you?" she asked. I grinned. _

_"Devilish enough for me. Say, you can control plants?" I said, making her laugh._

_"Yes. Plants are my family's forte," Hana-chan replied. I frowned. _

_"What's forte?" _

_"Uh... Something you're really good at. Like a specialty," Hana-chan explained. "Yours is fire right?"_

_"Yeah. I can-"_

_"Hey! Is that your father?" Hana-chan interrupted as she looked around me. I turned around to see two people walking towards us. One of them was as fair as Hana-chan, while the other was my Otou-san. _

_"Is that your mother?" I asked. "Don't tell me they really are in cahoots."_

_"Hey girls, I see you've met each other," Otou-san said as he and Hana-chan's mother approached us. _

_"You know each other?" Hana-chan asked her mother. _

_"Our families have been working together for years, dear," Hana-chan's mother replied with a smile. She looked like an older version of Hana-chan with shorter hair. Otou-san has the same short spiky hair as I, but his hair color was black, unlike mine which was the color of fire: red, gold and brown. And he had the same fiery eyes as I. I got my hair color from Okaa-san. _

_"You're not dating right," I asked as I wrinkled my nose. _

_"No! Sheesh. We're just best friends. Been best friends since we were kids. Your mother would breath fire at me if I was," Otou-san replied to my relief. _

_"Good. Cuz grandma would feed us all to her giant Venus flytrap pet if she finds out anything as scandalous as that," Hana-chan said. _

_"Did you really go and sell leather?" I asked Otou-san eyeing his empty hands._

_"Yes," he replied with a grin as he patted one of the many pouches strung to belt on his waist. "That was fireproof leather I sold. I got some new weapons in exchange for them." _

_"... Can I become a ninja when I grow up?" I asked. That caught Hana-chan's attention too. _

_"Perhaps in two or three years time. We'll send the two of you to a Ninja Academy," Otou-san said. Yes! I wanna become a fine kunoichi like Okaa-san. Maybe Okaa-san'll stop telling me to do household chores then. _

_"Until then," Hana-chan's mother said, laughing that adult's these-kids-are-so-innocent laugh. "Enjoy your carefree life. It won't be a bed of roses once you start ninja training." _

_"Yes it will," protested my Otou-san. "Cuz roses have thorns."_

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**Hope you liked that. It's kinda short though. Next update coming up as soon as i can get my hands on a computer again. Review please!**

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	19. Chapter 19: Memory VI

**Here's another memory, to make up for the ones I've missed before. Next chapter will be a proper chapter. Hope you enjoy this one :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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_Memory VI: Onii-san_

"If you're willing to fail interestingly, you tend to succeed interestingly."

_Candlelight danced in the dark, casting strange shadows of the wall as I sneaked out of my room through the open window. I've been climbing things for as long as I could remember. And playing with fire too. I never really understood why I never got burnt by the flames that scorched the fingers of others._

_The fire is my friend. I can tell it how bright to shine and where to cast it's light. Awesome right? Yeah, I know I'm awesome. My parents were always trying to keep me out of trouble, but being the awesome me, I've always managed to elude their grasp and run straight for mischief._

_Climbing out of the window was easy. The difficult part was to make no sound when doing so. I always found it hard to be silent. Unlike my otou-san who was a ninja until he retired last year and moved us all here from Kumo. Well, we weren't really staying permanently here in Iwa yet. We'd be moving to a neighboring village near Kusa first, visit Hana-chan's family, then come back here again. Being loud and energetic was my thing. Playing in the sun was my thing. Not silently sneaking about in the night. But I had to see him again._

_He was so cool! He's this guy who I saw last night while I was out in the dark searching for the fox toy that I had lost earlier in the day. I was behind some bushes when I saw him. He was pretty hard not to miss. Not when short bursts of light and fire was constantly coming from him._

_When I peeked out from the bushes, he had been doing something with his hands and making small explosions. The sound wasn't very loud, so it didn't seem to disturb anyone else. It was fun watching colors of white, red and gold burst out from the darkness like a miniature sun coming into life at night. That was why I had to sneak out the night after, to see if he'll be there again._

_He was there, sitting on some rocks, a few houses away from my house. Once again, he was making these really cool explosions and I wondered how he did it. Perhaps he could teach me. Yes. I should go and ask him about it._

_So I ran up to him, whispering as loudly as I could, or maybe yelling as softly as I could, "Hey! Onii-san! What'cha doin'?"_

_When I got nearer, I made a ball of fire appear in my hands and used it's light to see him properly. I couldn't maintain the fire for long because I hadn't had enough experience and practice with it yet, so I quickly took in how he looked. It was quite funny. He looked quite young. Maybe three four years older than me? I was seven. He had long blonde hair (it was more golden than Hana-chan's and of a darker shade too) and blue eyes that were wide with shock. Did I scare him? I liked to think I did._

_"What are you doing here, un? Little girl like you shouldn't be out so late at night," he said with a frown._

_"I'm six. How old are you?" I asked. He dare call me a little girl?_

_"Ten. Four years older than ya," he replied, narrowing his slanted eyes at me._

_"Only four years..." I snorted. "And you haven't told me what you're doing. Are you a shinobi?"_

_"Four years is a lot, kid. And yes, I'm a shinobi. Part of Iwa's Explosion Corps. I was practicing my Explosion Release, un. Now go home and sleep."_

_I ignored his last sentence. "Cool. I wanna learn how to explode stuff too!" I said to him. "Can ya teach me?"_

_"Tell you what," he muttered irritably, and stuffed a hand into one of the pouches strung to his belt on his waist. When he took his hand out, there was something white in it. "I've got some clay here, un. If I make you something, will you go home and stop bothering me?"_

_I thought about it. "Okay. But I can't guarantee I won't come find you again," I told him with an impish grin. He merely sighed and molded the clay in his hands. He was so fast; in a matter of moments, there was a small clay fish in his hands. He gave it to me and true to my word, I ran off with it as soon as I got it, laughing gleefully as I went._

_..._

_I sneaked up upon him like a firefly in the dark: small, swift and silent, but noticeable if one looks hard enough. Once I reached where he was sitting, I whispered cheerfully into his ear. "Onii-chan~! You're here again!"_

_He spun around and glared at me. "You're here again?" he exclaimed, using the same words as I, but with a totally different meaning and tone. He was evidently not pleased to see me. I laughed at his annoyed expression. For a ninja, he seemed quite easy to scare._

_"C'mon~ Teach me how to create explosions," I said. When he just continued to glare at me, I gave him my best puppy-dog face. "Pretty please?"_

_Finally he asked, "If I give you another clay sculpture, will you go away?"_

_"Sure," I replied with the same impish grin as the night before. I wonder... Hehe. I'll probably find out soon though._

_He gave me a clay rabbit this time. It was slightly bigger than the clay fish from the night before. And definitely cuter._

_..._

_"Onii-san~!" As soon as I appeared in front of him, he took out his clay and made me a clay bird that was even bigger than the clay rabbit from the night before. And even cuter too._

_This time, I didn't even have time to ask him to teach me his Explosion Release. He shoved the clay bird into my hands and waved me off. And I obediently went away, already planning to sneak out again the next night to find him._

_..._

_He seemed to have finally learnt his lesson. When I went out to search for him for the fourth time, I couldn't find him. I didn't comb the village as I wanted to. I was convinced that he was still somewhere around, practicing his ninja stuff. I was surprised that he was in the Explosion Corps at such a young age though. And I guess that was one reason why I decided to make him my_

_I went home that night empty-handed and slept early for the first time in four days. The next day, I pretended that I was a kunoichi on a mission. My mission was to find that blonde onii-san I've been seeing for the past few nights. If he was a shinobi of this village, I should be able to find him somewhere around right? Unless he had suddenly gone on a mission out of Iwa of course._

_I used my puppy-dog face to get my parents to let me go wandering around the village. I got some pocket money from Okaa-san, and Otou-san brought me to a ramen stall for breakfast, before leaving me there by myself._

_I had made a map of the village, including all the shortcuts and alleyways. Then I divided the village into smaller sectors and planned my search out as methodically as I could. There. Now let's see how a six-year-old girl can find a ten-year-old shinobi._

_I couldn't find the blonde onii-san when lunchtime came, so I put my 'mission' on hold and decided to go look for food instead. I decided to have potato chips, rock candy and lollipops for lunch. It satisfied my sweet tooth and gave me the sugar rush I needed. But one hour later, I was hungry again._

_I went about wondering what I should have for lunch. Not ramen again. But sushi wasn't very filling. And I didn't really care for soba either. I was just standing in the middle of the street, comparing two donburi stalls, when I spotted someone with long blonde hair through the crowd._

_I dodged around the legs of tall adults, and chased after that blonde. After sneaking up on him three times in a row, I could tell that the blonde was him. There was no mistake about it._

_"Konnichiwa, onii-san! Long time no see!" I greeted him as I leapt in front of him. His expression was priceless._

_"What are you doing here?" he demanded. I smirked._

_"Stalking ya."_

_"... Here." He took out a clay frog. It was a very cute thing. Except that I hated frogs. And toads too. No. I didn't hate them. I feared them. They had large bulging eyes and they'd squat on the floor or in the grass until you come really close, then they'd suddenly jump up and give you a scare. And then the toads. They were fat, wrinkled and ugly things, not even remotely nice-looking, unlike some frogs. They reminded me of fat old grumpy women who just square there in the dark, and they were so stupid, they'd freeze when they sense danger. That means that I inevitably stepped on one of them once. Not something I enjoyed._

_From then on, every time I saw a frog or a toad, I'd throw a fireball at it. So when the blonde onii-san gave me that realistic looking clay frog, the first thing I did was scream. Then I panicked and dropped the clay frog onto the stone floor where it sat there unbroken. Then I set the clay on fire. Of course the thing didn't burn; clay doesn't really burn. But it did melt a little, and imagine a frog that had melting features. I suddenly wished the frog had been a real one then. Real frogs turns to ashes when burnt, or at the most, they just combust. Which was sometimes interesting to watch. Not like that disgusting melting clay frog that refuses to just... just... die or something._

_I ran as fast as I could through the crowd, ignoring the cursing and swearing coming from the people I bumped into. I needed to get away from that frog. Far far away. Candles were nice. They look even nicer when they're lit and parts of them starts to melt and drip wax. But when the thing melting was in the form of such a realistic frog, it was just plain... Horrifying. Especially when the thing stares at you through the flames with blank white eyes that are starting to droop at the edges._

_I found myself in a strange alleyway that I didn't recognize. I stopped running and tried to figure out where I was. I realized in that instant that I was in a part of the village that I hadn't explored before, and that my map was no longer with me. I must have accidentally dropped it while I was running._

_I wasn't scared. I had no reason to be. I didn't expect myself to get ambushed by a bunch of strangers. I didn't think that there could be anyone who'd come after me. Not when I was only a six-year-old girl who have probably never seriously offended anyone before. I should have known that there were people who kidnaps kids for various reasons such as to sell on the black market, or just for the sake of having a kid around to 'admire' (in the case of a pedophile). I should have known, but didn't._

_They came at me pretty fast. And in the shadows of the alley, they had the element of surprise. But how much advantage do you need to have over a six-year-old girl? Unless the girl was a prodigy ninja kid or something. Which I wasn't. Instincts saved me. When I panic, stuff gets burnt. And that's just what happened._

_I gave the nearest guy a flaming punch. The punch itself was weak, but the fire helped. As soon as he was distracted for a moment, I took the chance to escape. I tried to recall the way I came from, so that I could get back to the bright streets where lots of people roamed. But my sense of direction sucked._

_I sent fireballs after fireballs at my attackers as I ran through the narrow alleyways, trying to find my way out. But what do you know, as luck would have it, one of them was a shinobi. Or ex-shinobi. Or an unofficial shinobi. In any case, I started getting assaulted by a hell lot of shurikens and kunais._

_None of the flying weapons were meant to kill. Otherwise I would have been dead. All the weapons shot were meant to capture and maybe injure a bit. I managed to dodge one or two, but I wasn't ninja. I tripped over something invisible, then my clothes got pinned down by six well-thrown kunais. Crap. If only Okaa-san had taught me how to breathe fire when I asked her to. But then again, even that would need me to do some hand signs which I couldn't. Not while I was pinned to the ground like that._

_As it was, the only thing I could do was shot small bursts of flames from my fingers as my wrists had been pinned down by the kunai on my sleeves. And even then, it was really awkward, since I was face-down on the ground. On top of that, my chakra supply was running low. I didn't have enough stamina. But hey, I was only six!_

_My three attackers approached me slowly, as if I was a wild animal they had just caught. My neck ached from my craning it to watch them walking towards me. Then I gave up when my neck began to hurt too much, and just lay there wishing I wasn't so afraid of frogs and toads. I refused to cry. I was stubborn like that. Crying was for babies. Though it could be used to get your way sometimes. If people fall for your crying trick that is._

_I was jolted out of my thought by a loud explosion coming from behind me. I tried to crane my neck over my shoulder to see what was going on. But I saw nothing but smoke. Smoke. And more smoke. At that moment, my only thought was: Die, die, die! Pleeeaaaase die. Just die._

_Then... "Oi! You okay?"_

_I saw the blonde onii-san walk out of the smoke and he hurried towards me. Then he took away the kunais pinning me to the floor. I stared at him when I got off the ground, then stared at myself._

_"I wanna hug you," I told him miserably. "But my clothes are all dirty and torn."_

_"... We can get you new ones, un" he replied. I brightened up and grinned._

_"Really? I swear you just said 'we'!" I said gleefully. I was going to run off ahead of him when I realized I didn't know the way._

_"This way." He led me through the various alleyways and I followed him like an obedient puppy, making sure to step on the half-burnt bodies of my attackers that lay on the ground. I didn't bother to wonder if they were dead or not. They deserved it._

_"Say, how did you find me?" I asked. I was feeling reeeaally happy then. First, I got saved by blonde onii-san. Second, he used an explosion to save me. Third, he's bringing to buy new clothes. Fourth, that meant more time to pester him about teaching me how to create explosions._

_"When you ran through the crowds, I tried to follow you. Then when I saw you run into an alley, I followed. But you had disappeared. Following the sound of attacking and the burnt marks on the ground isn't very hard though," he replied. Then he stared at me. "Why didn't you scream when they attacked you?"_

_I thought about it. "I don't know. It didn't occur to me I guess."_

_"... Seriously? What if they had been holding a frog each then?" he asked as he led me out into the bright streets._

_"A real one or a clay one?"_

_"What difference would it make? Would you prefer a real frog or a clay one?"_

_"I hate both. But I'd prefer a real one. Real ones can burn and they can be die and turn to ash. Clay ones just creepy. They melt."_

_We had reached a clothes stall and I ran in. Then I began to choose clothes the most similar to the ones I was currently wearing. The most important thing was to make sure my parents didn't find out about how I had ruined my clothes. They'd never let me wander the streets by myself again, not till next year or something._

_"Hey, why are you paying for my clothes?" I asked when blonde onii-san took out his money pouch just as I was about to take out mine._

_"Take it as an apology, un?" he said. I was confused._

_"Did you send those attackers after me?" That didn't make any sense to me either._

_"No." Now he was giving me a weird look._

_"Then what's the apology for?"_

_"The clay frog."_

_"Oh. Okay." I went into the dressing room at the back of the shop and changed into my new clothes. When I went out, I saw him standing there, staring into space._

_"Onii-san!" I yelled gleefully, then I tackle-hugged him._

_"What-?"_

_"I'm hugging you cuz you saved me, bought me new clothes, and you didn't run off on me while I was in the dressing room!"_

_My stomach chose that moment to growl. I made a face._

_"Have you eaten lunch?" Blonde onii-san asked me._

_"Are you going to treat me to lunch too?" I asked as I gave him my best hopeful-puppy-dog face. He had a what-the-heck expression on his face before he gave in to my best persuasive trick._

_"Fine," he said and led me off to wherever he was going for lunch._

_He had bakudan (the food, not the explosive) for lunch, while I chose a tamagodon. While I ate my eggs and rice, I continued to pester him about teaching me his Explosion Release._

_"The thing is," he finally said. "Explosion release is a kekkei genkai. You either have it, or you don't."_

_"Teach me," I persisted. He sighed in exasperation._

_"... I'll try, un. Maybe you'll be able to do it afterall. You do have fire-based chakra."_

_"Yay!" I whooped and did a cartwheel out of my seat. Then I wolfed down all my food while standing. "Say, what's your name?"_

_"Deidara," he replied as he finished his food too._

_"Okay. Deidara-nii it is then. Or should I call you senpai?" I said._

_"Whatever. You haven't told me your name yet, un."_

_"I'm Ryuusei Akirai," I replied as he led me to an open space near the edge of the village where there was no one else._

_"Alright then, Akirai," he said. "First, let's see what nature type your chakra is, un. If it's only fire, there's no point in continuing."_

_He gave me a small piece of paper and told me that it was specially made to detect the slightest trace of chakra. I held it in my right hand and tried to 'apply chakra' as he instructed me to. I didn't know how to 'apply chakra' though, so I just focused on concentrating the energy I used to create fire into my fingers, but without actually lighting my fingers._

_The chakra paper just burst into flames, and I soon found myself with fine gray dust that disappeared through my fingers. The same thing happened three times in a row and Deidara-nii didn't know what to make of it._

_"Just show me how you do it," I said to him finally. So he explained to me about chakra and how the Explosion Release combined different nature-type chakra to create an explosion._

_"It's like second nature to me, un. Don't really know how to explain it to you. How do you create fire, un?"_

_"Ano..." I created a warm sphere of fire in my cupped hands. "I just focus my energy into my hands. That's all."_

_"What does the energy feel like?"_

_"Warm. And restless," I told him. Then I looked at the flames in my hands. "These feel lively."_

_"... Do you think you can make that energy come out in short, quick concentrated bursts, un?"_

_"Like jabs?"_

_Deidara-nii gave me a weird look. "Jabs?"_

_In response to that, I jabbed his ribs, and he winced. Never underestimate a kid's talent of hurting people when they least expect it. "Yeah. Jabs."_

_"Okay... Like jabs then," he muttered, scowling at me. I just grinned back at him and tried to do what he suggested. Usually I just let the energy flow out of me and they come out as fire. This time, I concentrated on flicking bursts of hot energy out from my palms as quickly as I could._

_My first explosion made me go deaf for a few seconds. Having no proper control over it, I must have used too much energy or something. But it was an explosion alright, albeit a really big one. And I was happy._

_"Kami! Did you see that?" I yelled at Deidara-nii who looked a bit stunned._

_"I'm not deaf!" he yelled back._

_"Well I think I am!" I replied. And did a couple if cartwheels. Then I began dancing around, releasing bursts of energy with my hands and feet as I danced and sang. "I did it! I did it! I DID IT! I diiiid it!"_

_"Yeah, you did it. Now will you quiet down?" he said irritably._

_"Spoilsport!" I yelled merrily as I continued to do gymnastics. "This is so fun!"_

_"... I can't believe you can do it though," he said after awhile._

_"But I can. And it's cuz I have such an awesome teacher!" I said and glomped him. Aww... Deidara-nii was so cute when his cheeks turned pink._

_"Ne~ Can you teach me something else?"_

_"I don't have time for that, un," he muttered as he tried to pry me off him. I clung to him harder, like a koala. Just to irritate him._

_"You don't? Why not?" Now was the time for fake tears. I didn't cry; crying was level 2. But I would have if he ignored level 1 which was sniffling and looking like I was about to tear up. The expression on his face was priceless, I almost laughed. But I had to be stay strong! I must not laugh. Laughing would just give me away. Alright, just wrinkle that nose a bit more... Look a little more dejected..._

_"Alright! Alright! No need to cry!" Deidara-nii said, looking really lost and confused. "What do you want me to teach you, un?"_

_Yes! Akirai-2, Deidara-0. But I kept still kept my emo-puppy look on my face. "Teach me how to do clay."_

_"How to do clay?" He looked surprised. I nodded vigorously._

_"Y'know, how to make those cute lil' clay sculptures you can do so well?" Flattery always works. And it did work. That and the appeal to sympathy._

_"Okay!" Now he seemed more eager. And he took out some clay._

_..._

_One week later, I became his unofficial apprentice. He taught me everything he knew about explosions and clay. I'd meet him every night a few buildings away from my home. Then one month later, he left on a mission out of the village. I never saw him after that cuz my parents moved us out to Kusa after that. On the up side, I was going to see Hana-chan again! On the down side, I didn't get to see Deidara-nii again. But maybe I'll see him again when we move back to Iwa. Maybe. Just maybe._

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**That's all for now. Will update in two weeks time. Review please!**


	20. Chapter 20: Preliminaries

**Here's the update! GOMENASAI! Sorry for the procrastination and late update! I had an exam, I swear! Oh, and someone requested for more Gaara scenes. I promise to show more of Gaara after the preliminaries... A few chapters from this.**

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Chapter 13: Preliminaries

_"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan and not quite enough time."_

... Hanaha's POV...

Today was The Day, as Aki likes to put it. It was the last day of the second test and we were all wondering what the next test would be. It should involve some sort of fighting. No, it has to involve some sort of fighting. Preferably one-on-one duels. I can't wait to feed my lovely plants new specimens of food. I think out of the three of us, Chii was probably the only one who couldn't care less about what might happen in our next nest. She really does remind me of Shika sometimes...

We trained last night, after we had dinner and Aki told us about how Tenten couldn't believe she had missed the whole Neji-Lee-personality-switch episode. I believe Aki had made her sleep through it knowing she won't be pleased about missing it. According to Aki, Tenten had blushed on a few occassions when Gai-sensei told her about how gallantly Neji had carried her. And Neji had chosen that moment to be MIA and Lee kept sulking over his temporary lost of youthfulness. I think Gai must have been quite relieved to have his students back to normal by the end of the day though.

I was now soaking in a steaming hot tub of rose water and oh! It was bliss. Of course I wasn't just lazying in the bath doing nothing. On the contrary, I was hard at work... Counting down to the moment when Akirai's patience explodes and combust. Hmm... It was surprising that she hadn't already begun throwing a tantrum outside the bathroom door...

"Hana-chan. Hana-chan." I couldn't tell who it was through the door and steam. So I ignored it. I figured that should an emergency arise, that voice would-

"Moriten Hanaha." Wait... Something's not right. First of all, the voice sounded far to calm to be Akirai's. Second of all, if Chii is actually standing outside my door using that dangerously zen voice of hers and calling my name...

I quickly drained away the bath water, rinsed myself with cold water, wiped myself dry and jumped out of the bath. Then I pulled on my clothes and swung open the bathroom door. All in two minutes.

I stood there with hair still dripping wet, staring at the ridiculously calm face of Chizuki. She stood there with her hands in her pockets, her face mostly expressionless, but being best friends with her for more than five years taught me to see the hint of a smile that was almost invisible to the untrained eye.

Then I looked over her shoulder to see Akirai in the far corner of the room doing... Something. I couldn't tell what it was and that made me all the more suspicious. I looked back at Chii.

"Chizuki, what's going on?"

"Well, Aki-chan said that if you weren't going to come out in five minutes time, she'd set her... ambush.. into action," she told me casually, as if we were chatting about the weather instead of my possible death. Of course, seeing as she's Chizuki... And according to her, she wasn't the only one like that and that all three of us are weird like that. She may be right.

"Aki," I called out over Chizuki's shoulder. "What d'you think you're doing?"

Akirai looks up and smiles at me sweetly. "Oh, Hana-chan. You're out already. Thank Kami. You were in there for so long, I thought you had died in there or something... And you know how it is... the best way to revive a person is to use a defibrillator..."

"Even if I hadn't been already dead, I think I would have died if you had decided to electrocute me just because I took my time to have a nice bath," I said to Akirai as I walked past Chizuki.

"You spent one hour, seven minutes and twenty-three seconds in there," I heard Chii say from beside me. Once again, she sounded kind of zen, but when I turned to look at her, her expression reminded me of a well-fed wild cat whose prey had just gotten away. I backed away immediately.

"Well, now that I'm done with my bath, the bathroom's all yours," I said to her and leapt out of the window, letting some vines creeping on the tower wall to catch me. As I left, I heard a cry of outrage.

"Eh? I'm the one who threatened to kill her for taking so long in the bath and you're the one who gets the bathroom?" That was definitely Aki.

"It appears my silent threat was more effective than yours. The one with the better method of persuasion gets the bath. Fair enough, don't you think?" That would be Chii.

"All you did was state how long she took in the bath!"

"Don't worry. I won't take as long as her. Afterall, I got a feeling she only took that long to irritate you."

"You won't take as long as her huh? So how long will you take? An hour?"

"Yep. Oh, and I think she's still outside the window listening to this conversation. Just for your info."

"So? Who cares. I-"

"Where's your recorder?"

"What recorder?"

"The thing you use to record sounds or voices, you baka."

"Its-Oh shit. Where the hell is it?"

I left when I heard Chii chuckle to herself. I didn't want to be hanging around when Aki finds out where her recording device was... Or who had stolen it.

...

After breakfast, I spent the rest of the morning flowering the tower. That is to say, I made flowers grow all over the tower. The cracks in the tower walls made it perfect for me to coax flowering plants in to  
bloom. So there were roses here, daisies there; poppies in the arena, carnations outside the bedrooms; chrysanthemum in the kitchens, lilies in the hallways et cetera.

Of course, I did all this without anyone noticing me. So it was fun to watch when... Let's say, Neji comes out from his room to find clusters of flowering pumpkin plants blocking his way. Or when Kanky finds clusters of flowering spinach outside his door. (A/N: Neji dislikes pumpkins and Kankuro dislikes spinach if I'm not wrong)

Anyhow, I guess staying with Akirai for too long has it's 'side-effects' such as developing a love for pranks. Said girl joined me later on by adding mini fireballs of assorted color (who knew she could produce green, purple and blue fire that didn't burn) all over the place. I was a bit suspicious at first. After all, I did steal her recording device and recorded her hilarious conversation with Chii earlier in the morning, and she had yet to show any sign of getting revenge... Highly suspicious in my opinion. So I was wary of her every move. Then Chii joined us in decorating the tower with colorful origami, and I asked her about it.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold," was all she told me. And I avoided being within two metres of her until Chii came along and reminded me that Aki was mostly a long-range fighter. Then I stuck as close to Akirai as I could after that. I decided that it was best (and safer) to keep her where I could see her.

The funny thing about this whole redecoration was that none of the genins who had stayed with us in the tower for the past few days could tell who were the ones responsible. Except maybe Chizuki's Desert boy, Gaara. Afterall, he was the only genin around who knew of our presence in this tower... And maybe the Sound nin too, after Akirai's prank on them.

But the ones who seemed to really suspect us were the ones who came the latest. Around lunchtime, another Konoha team arrived, much to our relief. The first thing we heard Ino say when she saw the flowers was, "Don't tell me Hana's team arrived before we did."

Then they met Kiba's team who informed them that they hadn't seen us since they first arrived. After that, Ino just kept staring at the flowers while Shika stared at the shadows. And when the team we had been waiting for finally arrived, once again, two of their members suspected us to be responsible for the redecoration of the tower.

"Hey! I didn't know the tower was going to be so... Nice," commented Naruto. Sakura promptly hit him on his head. Sheesh. How violent.

"Baka," she scolded. "I don't think the tower's supposed to look like that."

"There's only one person I know who makes this kind of colorful and heatless fireballs," Sasuke said as he stared at Aki's fire that danced merrily alongside my flowers and Chii's origami all about the tower. The smartest one as always. I wondered what his team had encountered in the forest though. He looked quite beaten up...

"Don't forget the origami. The really complex one remind me of..." Sakura trailed off as she tried to hide her blush. I recalled Chii telling me that she had given Sakura a miniature origami Sasuke with puppy ears and a tail for her birthday earlier this year. Was I jealous? No, I wasn't a Sasuke fangirl. But Ino was.

Following Team 7 was another Konoha team comprising of Kabuto and two others I do not know the names of. When I saw a black cat sneak past Kabuto and slipped into his bag (A/N: if you're wondering how a cat could possibly squeeze into someone else's bag unnoticed, remember, she's a shadow demon), I raised an eyebrow at Chii, but she merely shrugged. We were, as usual, on the ceiling, watching the going-ons of the tower while remaining 'invisible' to anyone else.

Then Yami slipped out of Kabuto's bag with three cards. She leapt up onto the ceiling where we waited and handed us the cards she had stolen. They were three of the ninja info cards Kabuto had been flashing days ago, before the first exam had started. I recalled Team 7 talking to him about the cards and certain genins they were interested in. If I'm not wrong, Chizuki's Desert Boy was one of the genins Sasuke had been interested in.

I examined the card that Yami had passed me. It was my card! Or rather, it was Kabuto's card bearing info of me. It had a 3D picture of me on it, my name, birthday, genin graduation age, general statistics like how many of what type of missions I've completed. There was this other note at the bottom that said: has a dangerous affinity with plants. It made me want to laugh. I wondered how that Helmet idiot (A/N: for those who don't know, 'kabuto' means 'helmet' in Jap) got all these info though. Suspicious. Very suspicious.

I went over to Aki and saw that the card she had in her hands was the card with her info on it. The note written at the bottom of her card said: has a fiery and volatile character. Okay. That was funny too. Judging from the expression on her face, I could tell she wished Kabuto's team had arrived earlier so that she could include them to her pranking victim list.

There was one other thing I couldn't figure out. I had a good look at Chii's card when she showed me hers. The note written on her card had only one word: artistic. But that wasn't the strange thing. The strange thing was: all three of our cards did not display our family names. Mine was just 'Hanaha'. Akirai's was just 'Akirai'. Chizuki's was just 'Chizuki'. I would think that the cards bearing our info should include our full names. I mean, I know Aki's father was from Kumo and may not have a family name but what about the rest of us? And all of us, including Aki, have been registered as Konoha citizens with our full names. In Aki's case, she had adopted her mother's family name as her own.

"Hey," Aki said when we were alone. "I thought the info on these cards can only be retrieved by the creator of the cards i.e. Kabuto-san? So how-"

**I am a shadow demon. Do not question my abilities. We all stared at Yami who had a disdainful look (as disdainful as a cat can get) on her face, as if we've just severely insulted her. Then I asked her about our names on the cards. She glanced at our cards, then back at us.**

**There's a possibility that he does not know your full names,she said. I took her word for it. Whatever it was, at least now Kabuto no longer has info about us... Unless he has supergood memory of course. Or if he has our info written somewhere else. But I doubt it, or Yami would have stolen those too. She's right. She's a shadow demon. I had no doubt if she could steal someone's memory away too... Or at least alter it or something.**

... Chizuki's POV...

The second test was going to end in fifteen minutes' time. We observed that many genins were starting to gather at the arena.

"Say, does any of you remember anyone telling us we had to assemble at the arena for the next stage of the exam or something?" I asked. Akirai shook her head and Hanaha merely shrugged. Yami just snorted and that was good enough an answer for me. That damn demon never tells me anything until the last minute or when it's too late.

"When shall we make our appearance?" Aki-chan asked eagerly. I bet she's envisioning some sort of grand and dramatic entrance.

"We should at least give some people a scare when we make our presence known," said Hana-chan thoughtfully.

**Whatever you kids are planning, count me out,Yami said and disappeared. She was still there of course. Just not in her coporeal form, which was fine. The Hokage did tell me to keep Yami a secret from the other nins after all.**

In the end, we crouched upside-down on the ceiling as we always did, still hidden quite nicely by Yami's shadow. We waited until the time was up and all the other genins in the tower had assembled in the arena below us along with their senseis, the Hokage and the proctors. Only 9 out of the 28 teams (including us) that had taken the second test had passed. It was amusing to watch our fellow Konoha rookies discuss about our absence. We were the only ones in the Rookie Twelve that weren't there.

Naruto looked really worried, so did Hinata and Kiba. Much to Yami's amusement, Akamaru seemed more worried about Shukaku's presence. No one really knows what Shino was thinking, and Choji was as usual, too busy eating his snacks. Have I mentioned that it's a good thing Choji's team was one of the latest to arrive? We'd all starve if he had arrived any earlier.

Then the Hokage launched into a long speech about Kami knows what (yes, I didn't pay attention to a single word he said). Following that, Gekkou Hayate, our next exam's proctor/referee said that because there were too many genins who passed the second round, a preliminary match would be held there and then. Anyone who are not feeling well or feel like quitting could withraw then. (And he was the one who kept coughing throughout his instructions!) Surprisingly, Kabuto withdrew and Naruto was outraged for some reason. Maybe they had worked together in the second test? Who knows. I didn't like the look on Kabuto's face when he left though. He was smirking. Why should he be smirking? Unless he's got this secret no one knows. A secret that is undoubtedly dangerous.

The next commotion we detected was with Team 7. I had borrowed Yami's shadows earlier to survey the situation from below, amongst the genins. So the three of us up on the ceiling had a pretty good idea of what's going on as if we were standing right next to them. Sakura kept talking about a strange mark/bruise and Sasuke kept wincing as he clutched at the area between his neck and left shoulder. Naruto just looked totally clueless. Sakura also mentioned something about being attacked by Orochimaru. I wanted Yami to help us investigate further but didn't, because of what the Hokage told me long before the Chuunin Exams started.

In the end, Sasuke stopped Sakura from telling the teachers about the mark. On one hand, my team was somewhat concerned for the Emo Uchiha's welfare, but on the other hand, Pinkie seemed quite irritating... As always. So we didn't know who to side. And what was this bruise all about? However, I had a feeling that with or without Pinkie's nosiness, the jounins are bound to know about Sasuke's injury. They were jounins after all. And if all jounins were like Kakashi-sensei...

When it was clear that no one else was going to quit, Hayate announced that the fights would be one-on-one matches that would only end when either one of the genins get knocked out, when either genin surrenders, or when the match gets out of hand. Winner gets to go on to the next test.

Upon Anko's command, an electronic bulletin screen appeared on the wall at the front of the arena. The screen would randomly display the names of two participants and those two genins would have to fight each other. The first two names displayed were Uchiha Sasuke and Akadou Yoroi. Turns out that Yoroi was one of Kabuto's teammates.

I watched as the other genins went up to the second level of the arena with their senseis to watch the match while Mr Emo and Yoroi-the guy my teammates have now nicknamed 'Armour idiot' (A/N: once again, for those who don't know, 'yoroi' means 'armour' in Jap)-remained in the arena below. And we were still on the ceiling!

"Do you think it's too late for us to appear now?" whispered Aki-chan worriedly.

"But the proctors should know we're here right? I mean, there was that guy who led us to our room, and that guy Chii met when the Sound team and the Sand Siblings had a face-off. Not to mention the cameras they've positioned everewhere in the tower," Hana-chan said.

"Let's just wait and see," I replied, as usual, sounding more calm than I felt. I mean, what if we weren't allowed to continue on in the Chuunin Exams just because we didn't assemble in the arena below with the other genins?

The match between Sasuke and Yoroi was quite... Worrying. They started off by throwing kunais at each other at first. The strange thing was Mr. Emo's throwing ability. Somehow his aim seemed a bit off, and we all knew the Uchiha was one of the best amongst us at... Well, almost everything.

Then Sasuke managed to do a ground-armlock on Yoroi. To our surprise, Yoroi just placed a glowing blue hand on the Uchiha's chest and Sasuke's hold on the guy loosened. Yoroi attacked again and though Sasuke managed to dodge at first, Yoroi succeeded in placing his glowing hand on Sasuke's forehead, pushing him down to the ground.

**What a leech!Yami exclaimed in my head. Huh? Wait a minute... Don't tell me... That glowing hand can leech chakra off others? I know Yami could too, but I couldn't. I wasn't a demon, so even if I was Yami's jinchuriki, I didn't have the abilities to do so. There are always many abilities a demon has that cannot be inherited by their host simply because their host is a human.**

It was a battle between two Konoha genins, but I sided with the Uchiha anyways. He was part of our Rookie Twelve, and my team had trained with his plenty of times before. I didn't like him very much at first, but I guess, like Naruto, I found him not too bad a guy after all. That, and I didn't like Yoroi one bit. Not that I knew anything much about him, but just one look at him and I wanted his head to implode. Yes, implode. Not explode.

**The cursed seal!**

_... Yami. Stop shouting random stuff in my head without any explanation!_

**The Uchiha brat has a cursed seal on his neck! That pedophile must have given it to him during the second test. But what is that snake doing here? He must have disguised himself as that Grass nin I commented on before the second test! The one with the long tongue!Then Yami proceeded to curse and swear in my head for not realizing this earlier. Apparently her pride as the all-knowing demon was at stake. I ignored her and focused back on the fight.**

Sasuke had managed to kick Yoroi away before the bastard could drain any more chakra from him. He (Sasuke, not Yoroi) was in a very bad condition and I suddenly wished that Yami would stop cursing and start explaining what the hell this cursed seal was all about.

"Sasuke! Are you really Uchiha Sasuke? Is that the best you can do?" Three cheers for Naruto! He's gone and lauched into an inspirational lecture again! This is why I've always liked that boy. He was standing with Sakura near Team Gai. I took a quick glance at everyone else standing on the second floor watching the match. I didn't like the look of the Sound team's sensei (couldn't tell if the sensei was male or female) but then again, I didn't like the look of Zaku and Dosu either. Maybe Sound nins were generally disgusting. Who knows.

I got shaken violently by Akirai who was watching the match and getting worked up over the Emo Uchiha. He was our frenemy after all. I returned my gaze to the match and saw Sasuke send Yoroi flying with a kick in the jaw. Then he leapt up into the air after Yoroi and appeared directly behind Yoroi.

"Hey! That looks like Lee-kun's move!" Akirai whispered beside me. I didn't bother asking what she meant by that. (A/N: remember? Aki was the only one in their team to watch the match between Sasuke and Lee before the Chuunin Exams started) All I could think of was: Go Mr Emo-Chicken-Butt-Head!

**The cursed seal!Yami yelled for the second time. I watched the Uchiha carefully and saw that something black was spreading from a point on his neck. The black flame-like thing was speading across his neck and reaching his face like a living tattoo. Was that a result if the cursed seal Yami was talking about?**

Then suddenly, the black marks started to recede back to a black spot on his neck. Hah! I knew that Uchiha could resist whatever nonsense this cursed seal could cause. He was an Uchiha after all, and Uchihas were stubborn people. Sometimes I didn't like his attitude or the way girls flocked after him... Sometimes. And only sometimes.

The Uchiha spun in midair and attacked Yoroi as he did so. Then with consecutive kicks and puches, Sasuke slammed the bastard to the ground. But then both Sasuke and Yoroi ended up lying on the floor. Yoroi was unconscious, but Sasuke... Yeah! He got up!

"I'm stopping the fight here," announced Hayate. "The winner of the first match is Uchiha Sasuke!"

"Good. If he lost now, he'll be shaming the rest of us." muttered Hana-chan just as Naruto had another of his usual outbursts. And then there were the reactions from the other genins: Ino went into fangirl mode, Choji merely commented on his hunger, Hinita was impressed while Kiba scoffed at the Uchiha. Hmm... Could Kiba be jealous? Lolz. Oh, did I forget to mention Aki-chan's hysterical laughter. She was laughing so hard that her laughter had no sound and I got quite worried that she might fall off the ceiling if she weren't careful enough.

After the medic nins came to take Yoroi away and Kakashi brought Sasuke away, probably to do something about that cursed seal, the electronic bulletin displayed another two names: Zaku Abumi and  
Aburame Shino. Bugs vs sound. Judging from the pranks we've played on Zaku, I was convinced that Shino would win. After all, Zaku already had one arm injured.

"Hey Aki, what happened to the prank?" Hana-chan, the ever observant one (well, the most observant one in our team besides Yami, that is) whispered.

"Oh. I deactivated it for awhile," Aki stopped laughing long enough to reply. "I figured the Hokage wouldn't appreciate it much. Do you want me to activate it again?"

"When the time is right. Activate it on the count of three," Hana-chan said with a smirk that reminded me of Aki-chan's usual evil grin.

**The Sound nin's sensei has disappeared,Yami commented to me.**

_... So?_

**I was just wondering, if Orochimaru appeared in the second exam, then... Hmm... Yami trailed off, leaving an irritated me to wonder what her point was. Perhaps if I thought about what she said further, I might have been able to get it, but I wanted to watch the fight.**

The fight ended quite quickly, with Shino using his bugs to corner Zaku. Zaku didn't give up immediately. It turned out that his left arm wasn't really injured after all, but it made no difference, because Shino had blocked the sound-pipe-thingie in Zaku's palms. And when Zaku tried to use his sound blasting technique, the pressure of the blocked sound in his arms got too great that his arms exploded... Much to Aki-chan's delight.

"Three," muttered Hana-chan suddenly and Aki-chan did a handsign. Zaku could promptly be heard screaming in Kin's voice as Shino punched him hard. Now, for an ordinary person to scream when one's arms have been blown off was okay. But for a shinobi to scream in a girl's voice no matter how injured he is... Ah. That was an entirely different matter.

Hayate announced Shino as the winner and the medics took Zaku away (who was still screaming like a girl). Next up: Tsurugi Misumi vs Kankuro. And Kabuto's other teammate went down into the arena. What? First Helmet, then Armour, and now Sword? Wth is with these teams having related names? (A/N: 'tsurugi' means 'sword' in Jap. The OC Sand team I created also had related names-Owl, Kite and Eagle.)

Now who should I support? I didn't like the look of Tsurugi as much as I didn't like Kabuto nor Yoroi. But I didn't like Kankuro either. The decision was for me when both Hanaha and Akirai began to chant softly, "Go Kanky, go! Go Kanky, go!"

Tsurugi, as it turned out, had a strange ability too. He wrapped himself around Kankuro as if he were made of rubber. Then he began to tighten his... Coils-the only word that suited what his hold was like-around Kankuro, threatening to suffocate the Suna nin and break his bones. Then he broke Kankuro's neck.

When I heard Yami chuckle, I knew Kankuro would be alright. Apparently, she didn't like Tsurugi either.

"Then is it my turn now?" Kankuro said happily. Oh. Oh. OOHHH! The one whose neck got broken was Kankuro's puppet, while Kankuro had disguised himself as his puppet. Kankuro used chakra strings to immobilize Tsurugi and Hayate ended the match before Kankuro could get the chance to break Tsurugi's bones. The winner was Kankuro of course.

"Hey! It's Ino vs Pinkie!" Hanaha whispered. Ah. The eternal Sasuke-love-rivals. There they go. The first thing they do when the match starts is quarrel about Sasuke. Then they switched their hitai-ate places to their foreheads. Okay. So they finally get serious.

"Hitai-ates are supposed to be worn on the forehead right?" Akirai commented. I stared at the crimson hitai-ate tied around her neck like a scarf (A/N: like Hinata's or Temari's). Then at Hanaha's brown hitai-ate which was on her waist like a belt (A/N: like Lee's or Ino's). My black hitai-ate was tied on my left arm like Shikamaru. In other words, none of us wore our hitai-ate the way they should be worn.

"Who cares?" muttered Hanaha in reply. "Look. They're in a fistfight."

"Boooriiing..." whined Akirai after a while. "They've been at it for ten minutes already..."

"Ino cut her hair," Hanaha commented casually. First Sakura arrives in the arena with her hair cut short. Now Ino also cuts her hair.

"You're not going to cut your hair short too, are you?" I asked Hana-chan. Both Aki-chan and I had short hair.

"Nah. The time I cut my hair will be the time I join Orochimaru," she said, grinning. Right. That probably means never. I hope.

**Now she's gone and done the mind-body-switch technique for real this time, muttered Yami. I glanced back at the match. _For real? This time?_**

**You weren't paying attention were you? The blonde piglet feigned doing the technique not too long ago. To trap Pinkie.**

_Blonde PIGLET? Since when did you start... Nevermind.I couldn't quite believe that Ino actually used her cut hair to trap Sakura like that either. Genius. I wonder who I'm rooting for. Neither I guess._

"I would like to for-" Ino/Sakura began to say, when she was interrupted by Naruto's life-saving outburst (he seems to do this all the time...)

"You'd like to forfeit?" Hayate asked, though he probably knew full well that Sakura was being controlled by Ino then. But what Ino did wasn't illegal or anything, so it'd still count. However, thanks to Naruto, Inner Sakura was awaken.

"FORFEIT? Like hell I'll forfeit!" yelled Sakura as she regained control over her body and Ino quickly returned her consciousness back to her own body. Sakura was scary. Inner Sakura? Even scarier.

The match ended when the two girls knocked each other out at the same time with a punch each. Hayate announced that there would be no winner for that match. Ino and Sakura were then brought up to the second floor by Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei respectively.

**Poor Piggie. Poor Pinkie.I ignored Yami and her ridiculous nicknaming habits. She and Aki-chan should sometimes go hand-in-hand and change everyone's names.**

"The fifth match: Temari vs Tenten," Hayate announced. "Come forward."

Oh. A match between Temari and Tenten. And another match between two girls. This should be interesting. And then, there was a voice in my head that said:

**Hey. I'm bored. How about a game of shogi, eh?**

* * *

**That's all for now... Promise to update by next week, kay? ^ ^ Please review!**


	21. Chapter 21: Playing

**Here's another chapter~ Hope ya like it. And i realized i made a mistake in the previous chapter... dunno how many of you noticed it... but i'll be editing it soon. Haha. Anyways... who's your fav OC so far?**

**A/N: If I owned Naruto, I wouldn't be writing this fanfic**

* * *

Chapter 14: Playing

_"Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well."_

_... What the hell, Shukaku. Go away. I wanna watch Temari and Tenten fight,_I told the sand demon when he asked me to play shogi with him.

**What's so great about watching them fight? Play shogi with me.  
**  
**Get out, Shukaku! Sheesh, Kurai-ko. You should've told him you want nothing to do with him! Why on earth did you have to give a reason for not playing shogi with him? Your words imply that if not for the match, you wouldn't have minded playing shogi with that mongrel!**Yami yelled, outraged. All of a sudden, I felt like irritating her. After annoying me for so long, it was time to get back on her.

_Shukaku, if I play shogi with you... I paused to let the idiot finish cheering like a madman. You'll owe me a favor._

**No. Winner owes loser a favor. How about that?** Shukaku said. I agreed. Ignoring Yami's protest, I retreated into my inner world where Shukaku conjured up a shogi board and chess pieces out of sand.

_No cheating,_I warned him. He just grinned at me.

...

"Oi, Chii-kun. It's Naruto-kun's match!" Huh? I put my third shogi game on hold (I had won the first game and the sore loser had demanded for a best-of-three game instead) and brought myself back to 'reality'.

"Wait. What did I miss?" I asked Akirai.

"Well, Temari-san won over Ten-chan. And following that, Shika-kun defeated Kin-chan in their match. Now it's Naruto-kun vs Kiba-kun."

So I missed two matches. Oh well. Who cares. At least I wasn't going to miss this important match. Naruto against Kiba (and Akamaru). Fox  
vs Dog. I had no idea who might win. I was supporting Naruto of course.

The match began with Kiba using his beast-effect ninpou quadrupled no jutsu and his speed immediately increased. Then he promptly smashed Naruto into the wall.

"WTF. Naruto-kun, if you don't get up, Chii-kun won't be treating you any ramen for the rest of the year!" Aki-chan muttered beside me.

"And... He got up despite Kiba telling Hayate that 'he won't be opening his eyes any time soon'. Hah! Never underestimate Naruto!" Great. Don't tell me Akirai's gonna start a running commentary on Naruto's match.

"Akamaru attacks Naruto-kun and they hit the wall in a cloud of smoke!" Yes, she is. Sigh.

"Oh. Naruto-kun's lying on the floor while Akamaru is happily barking away... Has Kiba-kun won? Wait, Akamaru bit Kiba-kun! It turns out to be Naruto-kun in disguise! Good use of henge no jutsu and kage bunshin no jutsu, Naruto-kun!" the thing was, no one else could hear her except Hanaha and I. But she's right. Naruto's skills have gotten better since he graduated the Academy.

"Kiba-kun pops something into Akamaru's mouth and Akamaru's fur turns red! It is a soldier pill! Combined with their beast-human-bunshin and quadrupled no jutsu... they attack Naruto-kun together! Kiba-kun sees an opening and uses his Piercing Fang technique on Naruto-kun!" it occured to me that if not for the many trainings we've spent with Kiba's team, we probably wouldn't know about all these techniques that Kiba was using at the moment.

"Crap. Naruto-kun is injured! He lies on the floor spitting blood! Oi! You want to be a Hokage don't you? And Pinkie is actually useful for once! She yells at Naruto-kun to get up and he gets up slowly. Everyone's eyes are on Naruto-kun n-"

"Will you please shut up," Hana-chan finally snapped. Aki-chan mumbled something unintelligible and kept quiet. Now I can watch the match in peace.

Kiba kept attacking Naruto with his Piercing Fang while we kept waiting for Naruto to do something. Anything. And then, he does it. Naruto transformed himself into Kiba, so there were now three Kibas (including Akamaru). It should be useless, since Kiba had the nose of a dog, but Naruto did something unexpected. When Naruto got hit by Kiba, he immediately transformed into Akamaru and tricked Kiba into attacking the real Akamaru. Poor puppy.

"Think before using a jutsu or it will get used against you. And also don't fall for such obvious traps, idiot," Naruto said to Kiba. Now why did that sound so familiar? Then I saw Kakashi-sensei's ha-ha-very-funny face (somehow, it was still possible to see his expression even with more-than-three-quarters of his face covered) and remembered that it had been Kakashi-sensei who had said the very same thing to Naruto a long time ago.

When Kiba finally calmed down and started to get serious, Naruto announced that he had a new special technique. Kiba didn't give him time to execute the new technique and attacked him. Coincidentally, Naruto farted at that moment and hurt Kiba's sensitive nose. It was quite hilarious, but I guess that's Naruto for you. Then Naruto, taking advantage of Kiba's momentary distraction, made four shadow clones and the five of them executed Naruto's 'new special technique' which turned out to be a copy of what Sasuke had done in his earlier match. When Hayate announced Naruto as the winner of the match, everyone (Shikamaru's team, Sakura, Hinata etc) cheered. It seems like Naruto has grown quite a lot. Still an idiot, but less of an idiot. I must remember to treat him to ramen when this test is over.

The next match was between Neji and Hinata, the Hyuuga cousins. I didn't know much about the tension between the main house and the branch house, but it seemed like Neji seriously disliked Hinata. And I wondered, byakugan against byakugan, who would win?

**No offense, but I think that White-kun stands a better chance of winning as compared to White-chan.**

_... White?  
_  
**In reference to their eyes. What White-chan needs is more self-confidence and training. What White-kun needs is... Nevermind, he's tastier the way he is.**

Who cares about the Hyuuga! The Uchiha would probably tastes a lot  
better.

**Dibs on the Uchiha. Go find your own prey, mongrel.  
**  
**Blasted shadowtail! The Uchiha's mine!  
**  
_Is our shogi game still on?  
_  
**Yes, and remember, if I win, you'll owe me a favor.**

Kurai-ko, you were the one who agreed to play shogi with that sonofabitch. So you had better win. If you lose and owe him a favor... I'll kill the both of you before the mongrel can get a bite out if you,

Yami growled.

_Hai. Hai, _I replied absent-mindedly. I was sure I could win. I had won the first game, almost won the second game (but didn't), and I'll win this last game.

"What are you doing?" I turned to find Aki-chan and Hana-chan staring at me.

"You seem to keep spacing out during the matches," Hana-chan said.

"Oh. I was playing shogi with Shukaku," I replied and waited. And waited. Until the words sunk in.

"You were doing what?" Hana-chan whisper-yelled.

"How is he?" Aki-chan asked. I shrugged.

"Not as good as Shikamar-"

"STOP DECIDING THINGS FIR PEOPLE, IDIOT!" Naruto again?

"KICK THAT BASTARD'S ASS, HINATA! STAND UP FOR YOURSELF!" Then again, if he didn't do all that shouting, he wouldn't be Naruto at all.

"I wonder, will Hina-chan be able to do it?" Akirai asked worriedly.

"I doubt it," muttered Hanaha from the other side of her. "But at least she's trying her best. What worries me more is that there are seven other genins left. That means three or four matches more, unless we are to participate too. And up till now, the screen has yet to announce any of our names."

"What if they really count us out?" I asked. There was a possibility...

"Then at least we had some fun in this test," Aki-chan said. "Damn. Hina-chan's getting beaten up by Neji-kun!"

"Almost everyone looks beat up, including those who haven't fought yet," I noticed. "Except for Gaara."

I heard Shukaku snort. **You're one to speak. Look at your own team.  
**  
I looked at Aki-chan and realized that she too, did not have a single scratch on her. Probably because any leaf or thorn that touched her skin got incinerated by her heat. And Hana-chan had no scratches too, for the plants were her friends. None of us have gotten into combat in the forest either. Unless trying to escape from giant creepy crawlies is counted. But none of those creepy crawlies managed to touch us. Unlike Hanaha and Akirai, I should have gotten scratched a bit by the plants when we were in a hurry to get away from those monstrous leeches and whatnot.

_Wth Yami. I thought you only healed me with your chakra when I get severly injured or sunburnt or something._

**Didn't you know that the shadowtail is extremely vain? She always believes that one should be presentable for a fight. As if looking good is vital for survival.**

_I _do_ know that you're gonna lose. Ote._(A/N: 'Check' in Jap)

**Crap!**Ouch. I certainly didn't like demons yelling in my head.

**Gambatte,**muttered Yami. I could hear the smirk in her voice.

"Chii-kun, behind that wall are more electronic screens right?" I didn't like the sound of that.

"Do you think I could connect it to my video camera and display for all to see Neji-kun and Lee-kun's personality swi-"

"Seriously? No," Hana-chan cut in before Aki-chan could say anything else.

"But Neji-kun is hurting Hina-chan really bad. That video clip will be my revenge," Akirai protested. "Look! She's spitting blood everywhere!"

**Smells good, doesn't it, Yami?  
**  
**Yeah, it does. But I think I'll still prefer having White-kun for lunch instead of White-chan. By the way, Shukaku...**

**... Yes?  
**  
_Checkmate, _I muttered, as I moved my Horse to trap his King. I got a horrible headache when Shukaku started raging in my head. Sigh.

_You owe me a favor,_I reminded the demon before trying to focus back on the match which was already beginning to end. Hinata was lying on the ground having been critically attacked by Neji. Yes. Revenge sounded good.

"DON'T STOP, HINATA!" yelled Naruto. As much as I loved his characteristic encouragement, I had a feeling that pushing Hinata at this stage could be fatal to the poor girl.

**She'll survive. If she doesn't, I could do the honors of giving White-kun nightmares for the rest of his life, **Yami assured me. Right.

"She's... Standing up!" exclaimed Aki-chan softly. Indeed she was, and Neji was once again criticizing her. Honestly, that guy should just give it a rest! Him and his fate.

Then Hinata said something I couldn't catch, but whatever it was, it made Neji real mad and he charged at her. Thankfully, Hayate, Kurenai-sensei, Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei stopped him in time, before he could kill her. Then Hinata collapsed and Lee, Naruto and Pinkie leapt down to check on her.

"Hey loser," Neji spoke up. Was he talking to Naruto? That $& !£¥#%! "If you're a shinobi, cut out the pathetic cheering." Sheesh. What's his problem? Naruto's cheers are awesome. Then he proceeded to talk about fate and losers.

**Fate? Ha! If I wanted to, I could change his fate right now! By ending his life. Arrogant prick,**muttered Yami in disdain. My thoughts exactly. And apparently, Naruto thought so too. He tried to attack Neji but Lee stopped him. Then Naruto ran his hand through Hinata's blood and raised his blood-stained hand in front of him.

"I promise you... You're going down!" he said to Neji. Then I heard Kankuro say to Temari, "He's so clueless it's funny. He hasn't noticed the difference in ability." Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Kankuro?

Then Hinata was quickly brought away to the emergency medical room due to her injuries. I watched as Naruto walked up the stairs leading to the second floor and Kankuro went up to him. What was that puppet-guy up to?

"Hey," Kankuro greeted him. "You're funny. I like you."

"You're not funny. I don't like you," retorted Naruto. "What do you want?" Akirai snorted beside me.

"It's about that Hyuuga Neji guy but-"

"I'm gonna kick his ass!"

"No.. Nobody asked you that..."

Funny conversation there. Oh. Hayate has announced that the next match's about to begin. Who's next, I wonder.

**I hope it's us, **Shukaku said eagerly. I think he's starting to get high on the smell of blood... But I also wonder what Gaara's match would be like.

"Oh. Kami. That's-!" I looked down to see what Hana-chan and Aki-chan were so shocked about. Then I saw the electronic display screen.

Fukuro vs Hanaha.

... Akirai's POV...

Oh! Oh! Oh! So they haven't counted us out of the exams yet! And Hana-chan's playing with Hoot! Good thing we did our research.

"What now?" Chii-kun asked the two of us as the other genins below looked kinda shocked. Bet they're still wondering why Hana-chan's name is up there. Hoot is already in the arena waiting for her absent opponent.

"We make our entrance," Hana-chan replied with a smirk. I watched as she released her chakra hold on the ceiling and dropped down onto the arena below like a stone. Then she somersaulted in midair and landed lightly in front of Hayate-san and Hoot.

Cue the collective gasp. Now it was our turn. Chii-kun silently descended behind Pinkie, Neji-san, Lee-kun, Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei, while I descended behind Naruto-kun and Kankuro who were still standing by the stairs.

"This should be interesting," commented Chii-kun casually, just as I cheered, "GO HANA-CHAN!"

Everyone (except Kakashi-sensei) got a shock. Gai-sensei actually jumped and Kankuro squeaked. Yes! He squeaked! Uh-huh~! Oh yeah~!

"Eh? Akirai? You guys are here?" Naruto-kun exclaimed. I loved their reactions.

"We've been here since... Hmm," then I kept quiet and left my sentence hanging. This was something I learnt from Yami-chan and Chii-kun. How to irritate people with carefully manipulated words.

"Wait. Does that mean you were here before us?" At least he caught that implication in my sentence.

"Hai! And I was here before Kank-nevermind," I said hastily as Kankuro narrowed his eyes.

"You were here before my team?" he asked icredulously. I gave him an innocent look.

"I didn't say that."

"Somehow, you denying it makes it more believable. What's your name?" Kankuro said. I blinked. Then bowed.

"Akirai from Konoha," I said as I bowed in mock-courtesy. I couldn't resist adding, "Would you ever consider being a puppet?" (A/N: for those who have forgotten... Remember the prank she played on him?)

"You..." Kankuro began, frowning. I just grinned and turned my back to him.

"HANA-CHAN!" I yelled, an idea suddenly popping into my head and Hana-chan looked up just as Hayate-san was about to start the match. "STAY UNKNOWN!"

She nodded. I looked over at Chii-kun to see if she got my message too. She grinned back at me. Good. I bet after this, everyone's gonna take note of everyone else's abilities so that they may use the info for the next test. So the best thing to do was to reveal as little of our abilities as possible.

The match began and Hoot immediately unrolled her cloth. Then wind kicked up and the cloth spun in the air around her. Hana-chan just stood there, her pale golden hair whipping in the wind, looking quite zen. I had no doubt Hana-chan will win.

It made sense that being an 'owl' and a Suna nin, Hoot could use wind release techniques. The cloth edges appeared to sharpen as it made a cut in the walls of the arena when it spun in the air. Hana-chan would be sliced to pieces if the cloth edge touches her. Who knew cloth could be so dangerous.

Hana-chan didn't move an inch throughout Hoot's demonstration of her weapon's ability, making her a stationary target. In no time, Hoot's cloth had wrapped itself around Hana-chan, binding her as it appeared unnecessary to attack her when she made no attempt to do anything.

"You're weak!" laughed Hoot as Hana-chan continued to stare at Hoot with a hint of a smile on her face. I learnt long ago when I was small, that roses though sweet and pretty, had sharp dangerous thorns.

Then Hana-chan disappeared into a poof of smoke. Oh, so it was a clone after all. Good one, Hana-chan!

"Eh?" Hoot said as she whirled around to see Hana-chan standing behind her, still looking as zen as ever. Hoot instictively leapt backwards to put sone distance between her and Hana-chan. Seems like she's a long-range fighter. Then she spun her cloth again and the cloth shot out towards Hana-chan again, this time with the intent to cut instead of bind. Just as the cloth was about to touch Hana-chan, it went limp and fell to the ground. Hoot stood there gripping her right hand that was bleeding.

"What did you do?" shouted Hoot as she stared at her cloth. The end of the cloth nearest to her was also stained with blood as it was where she had originally held the cloth.

"Probably something with thorns," I muttered. Then Hoot picked up the cloth with her other hand (the idiot didn't seem to learn her lesson) and tried to attack Hana-chan again. Once again, she had to let go of the cloth abruptly as her left hand too, began to bleed. Yep. Definitely something with thorns. Now that both her hands were injured, what was she going to do?

"Give up?" Hana-chan asked as she strolled towards Hoot. Hoot resolutely picked up her cloth in one hand and a held a kunai in the other. This time, it happened so fast, all we saw was a spray of blood. Then we saw Hoot was clutching her left hand and gritting her teeth in agony. There were punctures in her hand, indicating that many somethings had pierced right through it. Probably really long and sharp thorns.

Then Hana-chan gently placed a kunai at Hoot's throat. "I repeat. Do you give up?"

Hoot quickly leapt backwards and out of Hana-chan's reach. "I'm not done yet!"

Hoot began to spin and dance in the middle of her coils of cloth that rose up in the air as she danced. Seemed like she could manipulate the cloth using wind, without touching the cloth itself. But seriously? You can't escape from plants.

Hana-chan chuckled, then she began to walk towards the spinning cloth and Hoot. More blood splattered and the wind died down as Hoot went on her knees and the cloth flopped onto the floor around her, lifeless. She had no other visible wounds other than the ones on her hands though.

"What did you do?" Hoot demanded for a second time after she vomited more blood. Hana-chan just smiled.

"Give up. If I wanted to kill you, I could have done so a long time ago. Plus, I think the poison is starting to take effect..." Hana-chan said.

"Who is she?" asked Kankuro looking quite shocked while Naruto just stared at Hana-chan.

"A really good friend. Just don't become her enemy and you'll be fine," I told him as I laughed at how dangerous Hana-chan appeared to be now, as compared to her more amiable nature before the match started.

"Is Fukuro her _enemy_?" Kankuro asked. I shrugged.

"We don't really like her or her teammates. That's all. Besides, Hana-chan didn't really injure Hoot much. Her hands should heal in a few months and I doubt the poison's lethal. Why? Do you like Hoot?"

"Hoot?" Kankuro gave me a weird look. "You mean Fukuro? Nah. Not really. Quite an irritating girl actually. But she's the nicest in her team I think. And the most sensible one too."

"I think Temari-san's the nicest in your team. And the most sensible one too," I said to him.

"Really?" His frown got deeper. I couldn't tell if he was feeling suspicious, curious or angry.

"Yeah. Her fan's cool," I replied. "Definitely cooler than that roll of cloth Hoot has."

Hayate ended the match when it became evident that Hoot needed a cure for the poison in her blood. Hana-chan was the winner of course.

"What about my puppet?" Kankuro asked. I pretended to look thoughtful.

"Well... Usefulness-wise, it's okay. Artistically-wise, it's horrible," I replied. "Hey, the Desert Boy has sand-body-flickered into the arena before the screen displayed his name!"

"Desert B-_Gaara_?" Kankuro's turned his head so fast I swear I heard his bones creak.

"SAFE!" yelled Choji as the electronic screen displayed Lee-kun's name with Gaara-kun's.

"Bushy Brows," I heard Naruto-kun say. Kami, for a moment, I had forgotten that he was there, mainly because he had been silent throught my conversation with Kankuro.

I watched as Lee-kun jumped off the second floor and landed in front of Gaara-kun. This should be interesting. Green Monkey playing against Desert Boy. On one hand, Lee-kun's speed and taijutsu is awesome. On the otherhand, Gaara-kun had that supercool sand and a demon.

"I don't know what kind of attack that bowl head does but there's no way he can beat Gaara," Kankuro was saying to Naruto-kun.

"True. The Desert Boy will probably win this match, depending on how fast his sand is," I said to no one in particular. That's right. I wasn't talking to myself. Only crazy idiots talk to themselves. I wasn't a crazy idiot. (Me: yeah right. Aki: did you say something? ( Me: nope ^_^)

"Sand? Is that what's in that big thing on his back?" Naruto-kun asked.

"Yeah. It's supercool. If it rains needles, he can turn into a giant porcupine," I replied. Naruto-kun gave me a weird look.

"Raining needles? Giant porcupine?"

"Yeah, you know, when it rains needles, the needles get stuck in that shell of his and stick up everywhere like the quills on a porcupine," I explained, recalling the scene where Gaara-kun's sand defense had blocked the needles from reaching him.

"Why would it rain needles?" Kankuro suddenly asked. Wait a minute. I forgot! He doesn't know my team was there when Gaara-kun killed those Ame nins!

"Because my prey decided to be suicidal," I muttered. I remember wanting to blow those Ame nins up, but no! Chii-kun had to stop me. And then they ran into the Desert Boy and got themselves killed!

"What-a cork?" Naruto said as something flew straight at Lee who swiftly caught it with one hand and dropped it onto the ground in front of him.

"From his gourd. Funny. I thought the cork was made of sand too. So there shouldn't be an actual need to take out the cork to use the sand inside right?" Hana-chan commented as she approached us. I shrugged.

"Let the tenth match begin!" shouted Hayate-san.

As soon as the match started, Lee-kun darted towards Gaara-kun and aimed a kick at the Desert Boy. Sand poured out from the gourd leapt up to block the kick and swirled around the two of them. Lee-kun was fast enough to dodge the sand.

For awhile, all Lee-kun did was try to kick and punch Gaara-kun but the sand blocked all of his attacks. And the only part of Gaara-kun that moved was his eyes that watched Lee-kun all the time.

"The attacks aren't working at all!" exclaimed Naruto-kun.

"All physical attacks are useless against Gaara. Because regardless of Gaara's will... The sand becomes a shield and protects him. That's why up to now... There's never been a single person who's even put a scratch on Gaara," Kankuro explained as Lee-kun leapt onto the tallest point of the hand statues at the front of the arena to escape Gaara-kun's sand.

"... So if it rained needles, the sand would form a shell and..." Naruto-kun trailed off.

"So you finally got it," I said to him just as Gai-sensei yelled, "Lee! Take them off!" Take what off?

Then he started to take off those horrible leg warmers off. Seriously, both teacher and student had no fashion sense whatsoever. Then I saw Lee-kun take off a series of weights off his weights. Ah. But will that be enough?

"Alright! Now I can move so much easier!" Lee-kun exclaims and drops the weights which crashed into the ground below with a loud explosion of sand and dust. Yeah... I think that'll be enough. I didn't know Gai-sensei was this scary. I don't think I wanna be his student. But why does he focus so much on taijutsu? Couldn't Lee-kun use ninjutsu?

"Lee! GO!" Gai-sensei shouted.

"YES!" yelled Lee-kun with his usual enthusiam and leapt off the statue finger. For a moment, he was just a blur, then the blur disappeared, then he reappeared behind Gaara-kun. That speed was so cooool!

And then Lee-kun began to attack Gaara-kun at a much faster speed than before and many of his attacks almost hit before the sand stops it. And the Desert Boy was definitely moving now. No longer in his stoic arms-folded-across-chest you-can't-beat-me pose. Lee-kun was so fast, I don't think even I can keep up with that speed. And I'm the fastest in our Rookie Twelve. Well, I guess I don't train with weights on my legs (and have absolutely no intention of doing so)...

Everyone gasped when Lee-kun suddenly appeared in the air above Gaara-kun and kicked the Desert Boy hard on side of his head. Ouch. That must hurt a lot, especially for someone who has never been injured before. I wonder what Chii-kun is thinking right now. She cares for Gaara-kun right? Poor Shukaku. He'll probably face hell from her later for not protecting Gaara-kun well enough. Now Gaara-kun had a cut on his cheek from Lee-kun's attack.

"Lee! Explode!" Gai-sensei yelled. Explode? (hey! Don't blame me if I instictively brightened up at the word 'explode!) Then Lee-kun sped up and suddenly appeared in front of Gaara-kun and whacked him hard with his hand. Gaara-kun was sent reeling across the floor and landed in a burst of sand that broke his fall. Double-ouch.

"This is bad..." Kankuro started saying as I watched sand start to fall from Gaara-kun's face. Then cracks started to appear as if Gaara-kun was a porcelain doll that has been hit.

"Its an armour of sand?" Hana-chan asked and I realized that Gaara-kun's crackef skin had turned a sandy color and beneath the cracks was his normal skin color. Wow. And that crazed expression. He looked liked a madman.

"If that boy gets caught by Gaara now... He'll be killed for the fun of it..." muttered Kankuro. I exchanged glances with Hana-chan.

"Really?" the both of us turned to Kankuro. He stared at us.

"Yeah... What's with that look on your face?"

"Oh. Nothing," I said and we both turned our eyes back on the match. I was surprised that Gaara-kun enjoyed killing though. From what I saw with the Ame nins, I had assumed that he was the type who killed without feeling. Was that just a mask? Like that armour of sand? Well at least we all know now that Lee-kun hadn't actually been able to scratch Gaara-kun earlier.

"But does that sand armour require Gaara's conscious effort to remain there? Cuz if it does, then doesn't it deplete his chakra supply and stamina fast?" Hana-chan asked. Kankuro nodded.

"All that sand must be heavy," I commented. That gourd on his back definitely looked heavy.

Then Lee-kun started to unwind some of the bandages from his arms and suddenly ran around Gaara-kun in explosive spurts. Suddenly, he appeared right in from of Gaara-kun and kicked him up into the air from under the chin. He did this repeatedly until he finally bound Gaara-kun with bandages in midair and then the both of them spun downwards at a shockingly fast speed, head-first. They crashed into the ground with a loud explosion of sand and dirt and the floor cracked and caved in somewhat. Lee-kun leapt away as soon as they reached the ground while Gaara-kun was left lying unmoving in the dent in the floor.

"Is he dead?" Naruto-kun asked. I snorted.

"Unlikely." As if to prove my point, the body that was supposed to be Gaara-kun cracked and started to turn into sand. The real Desert Boy appeared behind Lee-kun with a crazed grin and sand pouring down from him.

Lee-kun was suddenly assaulted by a hell lot of sand and somehow, he didn't seem to be able to dodge the attacks. Did he run out of energy already? At this rate he was going to be pounded to death! And it seems like Gaara-kun had yet to take this opportunity to crush Lee-kun with Desert Coffin. Does that mean that Gaara-kun's just toying with Lee-kun at the moment? And I thought he was more merciful than Chii-kun. (I believed in mercy killing.)

"Lee-san! Anymore and you'll die!" Pinkie shouted as sand got ready for another attack Lee-kun. Funny, I found her irritating even though I was a little worried for Lee-kun. At that moment, Lee-kun's speed seem to return as he began to run again. Then he seemed to gather himself and at the same time, his skin started to turn red and his expression changed. What's going on? That didn't look like a healthy color to me.

Then Lee-kun kicks Gaara-kun super hard with superfast speed. So fast that it sent rocks and stones flying everywhere with the wind. The both of them disappeared as a cloud of smoke and dust blocked them from our view.

Then I saw them high above us in the air. Not the best view from below, so I sped up the walls and back to the ceiling where my team had originally hid. Ah. A bird's eye view was usually the best. I could see Gaara-kun being repeatedly attacked and Lee-kun was so fast he was invisible. All I could see was Gaara-kun being seemingly thrown about in the air like a ragdoll.

Lee used his bandages again to aid with his major punches. Then the both of them fell to the ground. The floor split into large chunks of rock upon impact. A burst of sand behind Gaara-kun cushioned his fall and revealed that his gourd had also been made of sand. Lee-kun also collapsed onto the floor nearby.

Gaara-kun then reached out a hand and sand leapt towards Lee-kun. He didn't escape fast enough and the sand grabbed his left arm and leg. When he screamed and the sand exploded, I knew that Gaara-kun must have used Desert Coffin then.

I sped back down the walls and returned to my spot between Kankuro and Naruto-kun, just as Gaara-kun's final wave of sand got countered by Gai-sensei who had stepped in to save Lee-kun. Lee-kun was unconscious now. Then Gaara-kun winced and cluthed at his head as if he had a bad headache. Was it because of Shukaku?

I turned to look at Chii-kun who was kinda far away with Pinkie, Kakashi-sensei and Neji-san. Her face was expressionless. Totally blank. Most people's eyes reveals what their faces do not. But Chii-kun's eyes were as blank as the rest of her face. It was kinda scary. Because that was the closest thing to emo-ing I've seen Chii-kun get to before.

Then almost everyone gasped and I turned back to watch the end of the match. Gaara-kun had stood up and was walking away as Hayate-san announced him the winner of the match. And Lee-kun was standing up again, but he still looked half-dead.

I didn't know what was going on when Gai-sensei hugged Lee-kun. Then Hayate-san called the medical team over and have them check on Lee-kun. Naruto-kun left us to check on Lee-kun too. Then the medical team whispered something to Gai-sensei and Naruto-kun began to shout something about what Lee-kun was supposed to do. Apparently, the damage on Lee-kun's body was so great it threatened his ability to remain a shinobi. Kakashi-sensei flickered down to cover Naruto-kun's mouth before he said anything that might hurt Gai-sensei even more. Then Gaara-kun flickered back amongst his teammates using sand, while Kakashi-sensei, Naruto-kun and Gai-sensei returned to the upper floor to make way for the next match.

"Hey Kanky," Hana-chan suddenly said. "Shouldn't you be with your teammates?"

Hah! If he thought my name-calling was weird... Kanky. Hahahahaha. Kankuro's face was hilarious. He looked like he was torn between disgust and amusement. I turned to look at the electric signboard just in time to see my name on it. Akirai. Without my family name. And who had the pleasure of playing with me? Takoyaki.

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**That's all for now... Next up, another of Aki-chan's memories. Please Review!**


	22. Chapter 22: Memory VII

**Hey, guys. Sorry for the late update. This memory chapter will probably sound familiar to most of you, buz I've written about it before, in Chizuki's pov. This time is Akirai's pov. Not very good, but I promise I'll post up the next proper chapter soon.**

**Enjoy.**

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_Memory VII: Tomodachi_

"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine."

_Iwa was every bit like how I had remembered it as. Hana-chan and her family had moved into the next village last week so they'll be pretty close by. I think we're going to stay in Iwa for good now. Unless my parents suddenly decide to move to Konoha or something. Okaa-san was from there._

_I ran through the streets of Iwa to familiarize myself again. My parents had gone off with Hana-chan's parents as usual and Hana-chan herself was coming to meet me here in Iwa later. After she does her gardening, she says. I can't believe gardening can be that important though. More important than me._

_I waved to familiar faces, like the stall owner of my favorite yakitori stall, but I didn't see the blonde onii-san I met seven months ago. And I had forgotten his name. See how good my memory is? This also shows just how sucky I am as his unofficial 'disciple'. I only recalled that there was at least one 'd' and one 'a' in his name. Nevermind. I can always ask him for his name when I meet him again... Right. I can imagine him giving me a weird look if I were to tell him I forgot his name..._

_"Aki!" I turned to see Hana-chan weaving through the crowd towards me. "There you are!"_

_"And you've finally done your gardening? It's past lunchtime." I asked irritably and pouted. Hana-chan gave me an exasperated look. _

_"The venus flytraps would have started eating the neighbors dog if I didn't tend to it just now. Of course, that wouldn't matter much if my neighbor wasn't such a scary person. " And she said that with a completely straight face. Kami! She has a cannibalistic venus flytrap in her garden and she calls her neighbor scary?! _

_"_Riiight_," I said aloud and she simply gave me a polite smile. The kind that waitresses have when they are dealing with drunken customers. Ah well. "Let's find somewhere less crowded to play."_

_"Play what?" Hana-chan asked as we made our way towards some of the less busy streets. I thought about it for awhile._

_"Play-kami," I stopped short and stared over Hana-chan's shoulder. She followed my gaze and turned around to see what I was staring at... well, I wasn't sure if it was a 'what' or a 'who'. It looked like a girl around our age, with long raven black hair and the clothes of a beggar kid. She was standing in the shadows of the nearby alleyway staring at us with creepy glowing red and blue eyes. Her eyes weren't the only creepy thing... the shadows she was half-hidden in seemed to have a life of its own... or maybe it was just my imagination. She reminded me of a nekomata in the disguise of a child. I wasn't scared of most things (other than maybe toads and frogs) but she was just creepy. The kind of creepy that sent icy chills up my skin and it wasn't normal for me to feel cold. Trust me, I can get very hot when I want to. Literally. Flaming hot._

_I must have stood there staring at the girl like an idiot for five whole minutes before my mouth caught up with my brain and I remembered how to scream. Hana-chan started screaming around the same time as me too. I didn't expect her to scream though. It just says something about how creepy that shadow girl is. And when instincts kicked in, both Hana-chan and I began to use our family abilities to the best we could. Or rather, the worst we could. That meant thorny vines bursting from the ground courtesy of Hana-chan and bolts of lightning from me. Lightning release was something I discovered just last month. However, I hadn't had much experience with it. In my panic, I accidentally shot a lightning bolt at one of Hana-chan's vines and as its defence kicked up, an explosion occured. It was a stupid mistake of course. Hana-chan's plants were always very dangerous and had a life of their own. When threatened, they had an array of defences: thorns, explosive seeds, poison, you name it. _

_By the time the brilliant light and white smoke from the explosion cleared, the creepy girl had disappeared, which was even scarier. I mean, if she were standing in front of us, at least we could still see where she is, but now that she was gone, we had no idea where she could be. And really, she could be anywhere, hiding in any shadow, waiting for us or something. We'd never know when she might want to exact her revenge on us. And that was when I realised the second mistake: If we hadn't attacked her, she might have left us alone and gone to haunt someone else. But in our panic, we had attacked her, and now she had a very good reason to attack us whenever she wants to._

_"I was just wondering..." began Hana-chan, and I jumped, still feeling the panic-induced-adrenaline, though my chakra was mostly drained. _

_"I was just wondering if that demon was just a figment of our imagination," Hana-chan finished. I stared at her. Imagination? Surely my imagination wasn't _that_ wild?_

_"But we both saw her, right?"_

_"That doesn't prove anything. It could have been a trick of light or play of shadows. She didn't even retaliate when we attacked her. She just disappeared."_

_"It'd be nice if she didn't really exist," I muttered. "I'm tired and hungry. Let's go get some food."_

_So we had udon for lunner/dunch (or whatever stupid word there is to describe a cross between lunch and dinner), before resting on the brightest, hottest place we could find in the village (the rooftop of someone's house, and even that wasn't very good, cuz it was apporaching evening) We weren't taking an chances and figured that it was less likely to meet that creepy demon girl in a bright and sunny place. Well, it was Hana-chan's idea actually, after I pestered her about finding somewhere the demon couldn't get us while we slept. Hana-chan seemed to be in cheerful denial that the demon girl exists outside our imagination._

_When we got chased off the roof by the owner of that house, we decided to wander around the streets. Our parents wouldn't be back till late, and I hadn't given up on finding the blond onii-san. I wanted to introduce him to Hana-chan. By then, the incident in the afternoon had been thrown at the back of my mind and nearly forgot about it, until we got attacked. _

_It wasn't the demon girl, as we had expected, but a trio of sneering missing-nins (their scratched-out hitai-ate were a dead giveaway). They trapped us in a corner, and I screamed, shrill and loud, hoping that our parents or some proper shinobi would hear us. _

_"No one's coming, little girl," one of them said with a mocking laugh. Another added, "We're here to assassinate someone, but I suppose we could have some easy fun here first." _

_Then my frightened expression changed to one of blank uncomprehension. The nins must have thought that I had gone into shock because of what they said, for they laughed even more, but I hadn't. My shock was not because of their words, it was because I had seen a shadopw descend behind them. A shadow with glowing red and blue eyes. _

_The missing-nins suddenly realised that they were being attacked by someone else and whipped around to face the demon girl. I didn't know which was worse, missing-nins or a demon girl, so I screamed again and randomly shot a bolt of lightning in their general direction. Bad move. Not only did the lightning bolt miss them completely, it brought their attention back to me and the missing-nins turned to face us again. Just as one of them was aboyut to attack, he tripped and Hana-chan quickly pulled me away as he fell and got his head bashed against the wall we had been leaning on, automatically rendered unconscious. Hey, since when were shinobi this clumsy? Nevermind, I decided, and proceeded to electocute him, just to be safe. _

_There were two more missing-nins left and Hana-chan impaled one of them with her plants' giant thorns. The last one fled like Hell was chasing after him. We didn't bother chasing after him; we were just too tired. Damn my stamina. That was when I realised that the creepy girl hadn't attcked us. In fact, I had a suspicion that she had been behind the first missing-nin's fall. Looking at the way shadows moved around her, it wouldn't be surprising if she had tripped the girl using them. When I was about to ask her about it though, she disappeared._

_"Ne~Hana-chan, that girl..." _

_"She exists alright. But is it just me or did she just help us in taking out those nins?"_

_"It's not just you. I think I shall call her 'Akuma-chan' from now on," I said, more to myself than to her. Then we went off to find our parents._

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**That's all for now. XD Please review!**


	23. Chapter 23: Unseen

**Alright, so here's the chapter. Sorry but the next chapter may take a while to come up cuz I need to do intensive revision for my upcoming exams (if I don't pass, I won't be able to get into junior college!-panics-) yeah. anyways, just enjoy the chapter. I'll update some more when I have the time~**

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Chapter 15: Unseen

_"Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning."_

... Normal POV...

"YES! I GET TO PLAY WITH TAKOYAKI! WHOOHOOO!" Akirai's cheering broke me out of my depressive thoughts about Gaara. I looked over to where she had been standing with Kankuro and Hanaha and saw her doing cartwheels before vaulting over the railings, somersaulting in the air and landing some metres in front of Tako. That girl just had to do some acrobatics before her fight. And for a moment, she reminded me of a cross between Naruto and Lee...

"Begin," said Hayate. Even though Aki-chan had told us to keep the full extent of our abilities hidden, I wasn't sure if she had enough discipline and restraint to do so. The only time she ever displayed discipline' was when she's in the middle of pranking someone.

"If you aren't careful, you might end up like that broken Leaf genin. The one who fought in the previous match," Tako said to Aki-chan with a sneer. It was obviously a threat, but he had obviously missed out two things: a) His ability could never be compared with Gaara's b) Aki-chan wasn't Lee. Thank Kami Aki-chan wasn't Lee.

"Hmph," Aki-chan said as she pouted, obviously trying to resist the urge to show off her skills. Then she folded her arms and stood there stubbornly, as if she were sulking. And maybe she is.

"Well then, ready or not, here I come," Tako said with a grin and slipped his staff out from his holder on his back. Then he attempted to hit Aki-chan with it. I say attempted because though Aki-chan may not be as fast as Lee without his weights, she was still faster than him with his weights. I must admit, Tako's staff-wielding wasn't too bad. He spun his staff and swung it around in swift and graceful arcs. A rock protruding from the ground (a result of the earlier fight between Lee and Gaara) was smashed into fine pieces with one hit of that stick.

I was beginning to wonder what Aki-chan was waiting for. She was keeping her distance from Tako, and simply displaying her speed when she dodged all of his attacks. There were many things I knew she could have done: set fire to his staff, electocute him, throw a clay bomb... Etc. But of course, any one of those would reveal a little more of her abilities.

Hana-chan had cleverly used seeds that are so small they could hardly be seen. She must have planted them in Fukuro's cloth when her shadow clone had been bound by it. Then the seeds grew and shot out poisonous thorns whenever she wanted them to. The thorns that shot out were quick enough to go unseen, and anyone who hasn't trained with us before (around half the genins there) were left generally confused as to what had actually happened during the match.

"I didn't know Tako was this fast," I muttered to myself as I watched Aki-chan constantly increasing her speed to dodge Tako's blows. One particularly sharp piece of flying rock debris struck her on her shoulder and gave her a shallow cut.

"I didn't know Aki-chan was this fast," Naruto said. Hmm... At this rate, she won't be able to use her speed as an element of surprise...

"How fast can she go?" Pinkie asked. I shrugged. It always depended on her motives. Her maximum speed changes depending on her mood and the situation.

"If you were to hold up a big lollipop, wave it in the air and yell for her to take it right now... It'd disappear from your hand long before I finish saying this," I said in reply. And at that moment, Aki-chan was on the other side of the arena.

Then just as Akirai dodged another strike from Tako's staff, the staff split into ten sections linked together by short metal chains. The ten-sectioned 'whip' went straight for Aki-chan who dodged it and it narrowly missed her head. Now that the weapon kept switching between it's whip form and staff form with no predictable pattern, it got harder for Aki-chan to dodge. There was once when one end of the extended sectioned-whip graze her shoulder where she had been cut and caused her to bleed more. I wasn't worried. Not really. Not yet. Aki-chan could be very dangerous of she wanted to.

"I didn't know Leaf ninjas are such cowards! Is running all you can do?!" laughed Tako. I half expected Aki-chan to set him alight the next second but surprise surprise, she didn't lose her cool. She had this determined expression on her face and all of a sudden, I saw her eyes light up. Not in the flaming angry way, but in the Ah-ha! I've-got-you! way.

Just as the staff extended into it's whip form and nearly broke her neck, Aki-chan shot out her hand and grabbed hold of one of the chain links between the sections of the staff-whip. All the while staring at Tako the way a child might look at a magician about to perform a trick.

Tako stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment, before uttering a loud gasp and started to twitch and jerk. Spasms ran through his body as his breathing hitched. Not once did his hands leave his weapon.

"What's happening?" Sakura asked as her gaze went from Aki-chan's gleeful face to Tako's spasming body.

"Why doesn't he drop his weapon?" Naruto sounded bewildered. I grinned. That was it!

"He can't," I replied. "He's getting an electric shock. When a one gets an electric shock, depending on the severity of it, one may not be able to control one's muscles and the electric current will continue to flow through the point of contact, making it worse. It's a vicious cycle."

The staff, as we had learnt when doing our research before pranking on the Fly team days ago, was made of wood. In order for it to be a good weapon, it's core was made of metal. The metal core of one section is linked to the chain-links which are linked to the next metal core in the next section of the weapon. And all this metal is only revealed when the staff is in it's whip form i.e. The only time when the metal of the staff isn't protected by the electrical insulator of wood.

The thing about using a staff as his weapon was that a part of staff-wielding was spinning the staff. That meant that he'd hold on to different ends of the staff each time he turns it into a whip. One end of the staff had been coated with Akirai's blood when she had let it graze her flying-rock-debris-caused wound befor. And the blood acted as a conducting path for her electricity to travel from the metal of the chain links to his hand. That genius.

Finally, Aki-chan let go of the sectioned-whip and both weapon and wielder collapsed onto the ground. After that electric shock, Tako had been rendered unconscious (that idiot should know better than to kill him or paralyze him for life) and Aki-chan was declared the winner of the match. Similarly, about half the people in this arena are probably still clueless as to what had just transpired. The electric current had been invisible after all. The smarter ones may be able to guess it though.

"You guys intend to remain as mysterious as possible, right?" Pinkie asked me. I nodded.

"There's likely to be more matches like this in the next test. The less others know about us the better." (A/N: I never understood those anime characters who have this strange urge to explain to their losing opponents about the workings behind their attacks and end up being the one who loses in the end because of it)

**I wonder how that Firefly friend of yours will taste like,** mused Shukaku at the back of my mind. Reminding me of Gaara's match with Lee. I had been torn between the urge to defend Gaara and the urge to protect Lee. But it was highly likely that after that match, there will be a whole lot more people hating Gaara... Who hurt more? The one who can no longer be a ninja? Or the one who is an outcast, hated and feared by all?

_You had a taste of Lee. That should be enough. I won't have you taking a bite out of Akirai as well,_ I told the sand demon irritably. And of  
course I had to remind him that he still owed me a favor.

"It's Choji against that sound guy," Naruto suddenly said. I looked down at the arena below. Poor Choji. He'll never win against Dosu. But that also meant that I'll be fighting against Washi next. There was only the two of us left. And Aki-chan was now dancing up the steps leading to the second floor, singing "I won~! I won~! I WON~!"

Choji's 'fight' against Dosu didn't last long. Even after he had put on earplugs and transformed himself into a human cannonball, Dosu managed to hit him with sound that passed through the liquid in his body. Dosu didn't have to use much effort and Choji lost without getting injured... Much. I mean, he was just kinda woozy after the match and that was all. I heard that Asuma-sensei was going to treat him to sone steak after the test.

"For the thirteenth and final match, contenders please step forward," Hayate said. I leapt down from the second floor around the sane time as Washi and we walked over to where Hayate was standing. Hm... I liked the number 13.

"Begin," Hayate said. Neither of us moved. One second passed. Two seconds passed. Five seconds passed. I put my hands in my pockets and began to hum. Ten seconds passed. Why wasn't he attacking? Twenty seconds passed. This is starting to get boring

**Glad you know that. When are you going to spill some blood?** Stupid sonofabitch tanuki.

"I learnt from my teammates mistakes. They attacked straightaway while your teammates waited and won. Now I wait, and you do nothing," grumbled Washi suddenly. Well that answered my question about why he wasn't attacking yet.

"Well, I'm waiting too. We can wait all day or someone start to attack first. Or, we can just sit down and have a cup of tea," I smiled at him with that I'm-calm-peaceful-and-zen smile that I knew irritated the hell out of many people.

I was surprised when he answered, "But we don't have tea. And I'm itching to fight. But you won't do a thing."

"Then fight, and I'll do something. Nobody told you not to attack," I replied and started to rock on my heels, my hands still snug in my pockets.

"I have a feeling that if I attack before you do, I might lose," Washi said. I blinked and gave him a look of pure innocence. Yami laughed in my head.

"Well I ain't attacking first... And you'll definitely lose. I don't see anything wrong in you losing."

"I'm not attacking until you do," he stubbornly persisted. I snorted.

"Then you can wait for-"

"CHII-KUN!" I looked up at Aki-chan who was still standing with Kankuro and Hana-chan on the second floor near the steps.

"HAVE I EVER TOLD YOU HOW ANNOYING YOU ARE?!"

... What the heck. I stuck out my tongue at her and returned my attention back to Washi.

He nearly got me then. When my back was turned, he had decided it was time to act. Too bad for him, Yami had no intention of letting him kill me with a twenty-foot-long metal chain. Thankfully, she did nothing obvious. She just made my shadow dart away and of course I had to follow my shadow. (A/N: a bit like Shikamaru's shadow manipulation except that Yami wasn't standing somewhere else but inside of me)

According to Aki-chan, this chain could grow spikes the way Hana-chan's plants could grow thorns. So I had to be extra careful. Otherwise I'd end up all holey like cheese.

"I thought you said you weren't gonna make the first move," I said to him. Washi just grinned.

"I saw an opening, a chance, so I took it," he replied.

"Yeah, and you missed it."

"I won't miss the next time."

I dodged another blow. He missed me again. But the problem was, his chains were like snakes, striking out in arcs and coils, twisting this way and that. It was much more flexible than his brother's sectioned-whip. And in my opinion, much more dangerous. Who knew if the spikes on this chain aren't poisoned too.

_Yami, what should I do? The Hokage definitely told me not to use your shadows unless I'm in a life-and-death situation. And I'm not dying. Yet._

**Learn from Firefly.** Huh? What's that supposed to mean? Bloody cryptic answer. What did Akirai do? She electrocuted her opponent using his weapon as a conductor. It was quite typical of her actually. I recalled the prank she so cleverly did on their team a few days ago. The time when we made their weapons go against them. And Washi-Oh. Oh. OH!

_But I don't think it'll work. He's got to really stupid for that to work. There's no way he'd fall for it._

**Improvise. You can use your paper and origami, can you not?**

**Are you gonna stab him? Is he gonna-**

_If this works, then yes, you'll get to see lots of blood... Shuka-chan._ I heard two demons gag in my head. Lolz. They had better get used to it cuz I had a feeling I'd be calling Shukaku that more often. It was too fun to annoy him like that.

"FOCUS! FOR KAMI'S SAKE! THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO CHAT WITH SOME DE-mmph!" Thank goodness Hana-chan had the sense to shut up Aki-chan before she revealed anything about me and my relationship with demons. But she was right. While I was talking to Yami and Shukaku, Washi had been preparing for another surprise attack.

I narrowly dodged it-a spike shot out and cut my cheek. Okay, now I seriously hoped it wasn't posioned. Time to put my plan into action. I glanced up once, and wished I hadn't. Everyone was watching me. Including Gaara. Especially Gaara. I wonder, can he feel Shukaku's interest in me? Does he want me dead?

I snapped out of it, dodged another barbed section of chain and ran towards Washi. He was a long-ranged fighter, so whether I stay far or near from him wouldn't make much of a difference. His chain, when fully extended, was damn long. At least there was a limit to how far it's spikes could grow though.

I dashed round and close to Washi as I could, following every time he moved away. He seemed uncomfortable with me so close to him and his chain movements became more awkward. Probably because there was a risk of being hurt by his own weapon when he attacked me so close to himself.

I stuffed a hand into one of my pouches hanging on my belt and took out several pieces of paper. They were all the size of my hand so I was able to hide them from Washi's view (A/N: this is how some magicians do their simple tricks like disappearing/appearing cards btw). Now the tricky part was to do origami without him seeing. Now if I was Aki-chan, I could run so fast I'm just a blur and that'd be easy. Then again, if I was Aki-chan, I'd be able to electrocute him easily with all that metal his chains are made of.

I needed a distraction, so I created fifty-odd ordinary shadow clones. With Yami's plentiful chakra, I could do that as easily as Naruto. I made them do everything they could think off: throwing kunais, shurikens, explosive tags... Ordinary ninja stuff. Amidst the temporary confusion (before Washi had the sense to disperse all of them), I folded what I needed. Thanks to my training two nights ago, I could fold stuff pretty fast even while I dodged attacks (some attacks from Washi, some attacks from my clones who were having fun throwing stuff around).

When he finally found me amongst all my clones, he lashed out with his chain again. I ran towards him while dodging the spikes. One cut my sleeve but it didn't matter... It didn't feel painful, though I was aware that my arm felt warm and sticky... Until Shukaku asked me, **Can I lick you?**

_If you can admit that you're a mongrel, or a son-of-a-bitch, or a bastard dog, then yes,_ I told him. This time, when I drew near to him, I let his chains come dangerously close to me, then with a quick sleight of the hand, my job was done.

I don't know how long it took for him to realize that his chain was no longer obeying him. But by the time he did, he had been sliced at by many sharp spikes. Unbeknownst to him, these cuts were not cuts made by barbs or spikes. They were cuts made by wind-sharpened paper. A good length of his chain was not really his chain, but my origami. It was a good thing his chain was so long, it took him some time to realize that his chain was longer than usual and that extra length of chain was attacking him.

Too late he tried to get rid of my paper addition to his chain. It wound round his neck and stayed there. There was no way he could slice it into shreds now, because I made sure that for every movement he made, little paper corners would press against his neck. A major movement would result in the paper cutting deeper into his neck. Of course, I could also strangle him if I wanted.

"Do you forfeit?" I asked him. The both us knew full well that he was at my mercy. He didn't dare to nod for fear of the chain on his neck, so I loosened it's hold on him to let him 'get some air'. The little cheat had to take that opportunity to bring up his kunai to slice at the paper chain. I very nearly cut his windpipe when I quickly tightened the paper chain noose on his neck again. Nearly. I had no intention of killing him. I heard a half-whine half-growl of sorts in my head.

_Sorry to disappoint you, Shuka-chan._ I smirked. To Washi I said, "Go on, say you'll forfeit, lest I try to behead you. Don't worry, opening your mouth to speak won't kill you."

He glared at me and for a moment, his eyes flickered upwards to the other genins who were watching us intently. I followed his gaze while still alert for any trouble from him. It was unnerving how quiet they all were. Even Naruto wasn't saying anything. The only one talking was Aki-chan. Then she saw me looking and she leaned over the railing.

"OH JUST DO IT! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! IF HE WON'T FORFEIT, YOU MIGHT AS WELL LOPE OFF HIS HEAD AND BE DONE WITH IT!" she yelled. Oh someone just tape up her mouth please?

**I could do it, but I'd like to see you kill that guy. He's a nuisance. Strutting about in Suna like a featherless peacock all the time, acting as if he owned the desert or something. Until he sees us that is. Then he pretends to be all meek and polite for fear I might just eat him up or something...** Shukaku said. Interesting. I couldn't resist.

"Hey Washi," I said to the genin whose neck was still threatened by my paper chain. "I heard that you like to strut around in Suna like a featherless peacock. Does your great-grandfather own the desert or something?"

I made sure I said it loud and clear for everyone in the arena to hear. His eyes widened. I gave my genuine thanks to Shukaku who went into shock too. Yami promptly scolded me for thanking the sand demon and telling me I must be insane.

_Hey Shukaku, any more stuff I can use to pressure that guy?_

**Let me have a lick of you. Just a tiny lick. And I'll help you blackmail him all you want.** Hmm... Of course I could pull my you-owe-me-a-favor card, but I think I'll save that favor thing for another time when I might really need it.

_Okay. Just a little lick. Later. On Yami's terms. So, what other info do you have?_

...

"I heard you have a crush on a Suna kunoichi with blue and orange wavy hair."

"How do you know all this?!" Because I have a two sadistic demons with me, one slightly pervertic one and the other an excellent lie-detector (to make sure the preverted one is telling the truth of course).

"I have my ways. I heard you once accidentally kissed Kank-"

"I forfeit!" Washi yelled, cutting me off in the middle of my fifth round of blackmail. I could have threatened him further by using the paper chain around his neck to cut him, but this was so much more fun. Many of the watching genins were no longer silent but laughing away. Including Temari. Even some of the jounins, like Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei were chuckling (well in Kakashi-sensei's case, he was doing his eye-smile).

"Winner of the last match: Chizuki." Hayate wasn't laughing, but he was giving me this really weird look. I let Washi go and everyone could see the small red bleeding marks all around his neck. Then the medics took him away to examine the damage on his neck.

When the genin victors were called down to assemble in the arena, Akirai jumped down and glomped me. Hana-chan came over and asked me if my unfinished word "Kank-" was actually "Kankuro". Kankuro was glaring at me and I just waved back. Then I nodded to Hana-chan.

"Then again, Kanky's not the only male here who has kissed another male before," Akirai whispered. She didn't whisper very softly and earned herself a whack on the head by Naruto. Say, where was the Uchiha?

"How did you get all that info anyways?" Temari asked me. I gave her a sly smile.

"I made a deal with a dog. In return for licking me later," I told her. Let her guess what I meant by that. Judging from the disgusted looks on Hana-chan and Aki-chan's faces, they knew what I was talking about.

"Lick, huh?" Akirai said as she eyed my arm. "Well you are bleeding quite badly. Sure you don't need a medic?"

I glanced at my left arm. The first thing I noticed was the blood. I glanced up to see Gaara staring emotionlessly at me. Shukaku chuckled. Then I noticed the cut which I couldn't tell if it was deep or not. If the amount of blood coming from it was any indicator...

"I think your some of your nerves have died. Doesn't it hurt?" Hana-chan said, giving the cut a suspicious look, as if she expected the cut to do anything strange. I made a face. It throbbed a little, but mostly, it just felt numb. Then I noticed the rip in my sleeve.

"My sleeve! That damn Sand $& €£¥#%?! Now my jacket is ruined..." I complained.

"I could make you a new jacket. Sheesh," Akirai said as everyone all gave me strange looks. Except those who a) have more than half of their face covered i.e. Kakashi-sensei and Shino or b) are always expressionless i.e. Gaara or c) are too caught up in their own thoughts i.e. Gai-sensei (thinking about Lee) and Choji (thinking about food)

"Well, with this, the preliminary trials for the third test has been completed," Hayate said. "To all of you who won the right to compete in the third test in the chuunin exams... *cough* one is missing but... Congratulations to you all!"

Then the Hokage began another long speech. Yami made me listen to it this time. Apparently, for the main event, the matches will be seen by everybody, including all the country lords and shinobi leaders. So it will be held one month from now so that Konoha can prepare for the event and so that us genins could prepare for our matches, such as getting to know the enemy. The Hokage reminded us that we would be representing the strength of our countries in the upcoming test. As such, he wanted us to "show off all our powers with no restraints". Funny, since he was the one who told me to keep Yami a secret until the chuunin exams are over. Which I will be. And that means I'll have to brush up my origami skills.

"This one month time period is for you to calculate your chances of winning by analysing the data you accumulated during the trial competition. The battles up to now had you fight as if you were in an actual combat situation, with the assumption of fighting an unknown opponent," he said. Haha. Not really. Not for my team anyways.

"However, the final trial will bot be like that. There are those who showed all that they can do already to their rivals..." the Hokage continued. There were few snorts from the audience. I had a feeling the reason behind it was my team's ambiguity in abilities. "There are those who competed and were badly injured against a strong opponent. To make everything fair, the one month should be used by all to advance and improve yourselves. Of course, it'll be fine to rest your body as well."

No it wasn't fair. All my life I was used to using shadows as my weapon until a few months ago when I had to start using paper. Now I'll probably have to spend my one month break training while my teammates go off and have fun (cuz they don't have to hide their abilities. Abilities which they have been born with and had at least seven years to develop) Damn it all.

Then we were about to be dismissed when the Hokage asked us to take out a slip of paper from the box that Anko was currently holding. Dosu went up first and we lined up behind him. Wonder what this was all about. It reminded me of drawing lots.

On my paper was the number 6 and the Hokage made us read out our numbers starting from Dosu. Dosu was 10, Naruto was 1, Temari was 7, Akirai 9, Kankuro 5, Gaara 3, Hanaha 12, Shika 8, Neji 2, Me 6, Shino 11. The missing number was 4, which I assumes must be Sasuke's number.

"Alright, now I will... Reveal to you the final tournament!" the Hokage announced. Ah. I see. I wasn't surprised, but Naruto and Aki-chan definitely were because they uttered a very loud and sychronised, "HUH!?"

Then the matches were revealed to us on a sheet of white paper. Naruto vs Neji (this really must be fate) in the first match. Sasuke vs Gaara (if this isn't fate, I don't know what is) in the second match. Kankuro vs... Me (screw fate. I can't believe this) in the third match. Temari vs Shikamaru in the fourth match (he always seemed to end fighting girls...) Akirai vs Dosu in the fifth match (sound against light... Again? For the third time?) and Shino vs Hanaha (good luck bugs, you're against a Venus flytrap).

Then Shikamaru asked if there would only be ultimately, one chuunin as there could only be one chuunin once all the matches are done. The Hokage then explained that the matches were for he, the Kazekage and other shinobi and country leaders to assess their abilities and decide who are suited to be chuunin. So it was possible for all of us to be chuunin, and also possible for none of us to be chuunin.

"Do you understand now, Shikamaru?" the Hokage asked. Then he dismissed us. We were essentially, left to do whatever we pleased for one month, starting from now.

...

"Fate has such a sense of humor," Hana-chan was saying. "She should lend some to Neji. Cuz he needs it. And he's so obsessed over her."

"How do you know Fate is a girl?" Aki-chan then asked. It was a ridiculous conversation, but honestly. Take the first few matches for example. Let's say Naruto wins, he'll either have to fight Sasuke, his teammate and rival, or Gaara, another jinchuriki. Fox vs Tanuki. Interesti-

**I don't mind. I'll just beat your ass up again like in the good old days.** Wait. Who was Kurama speaking to?

**You may be able to do that, but your host sure as well won't be able to. **Wait. Wait. Wait. Why on earth are those two demons using my mind  
as a platform for their communication?

"Oi. Chizuki," Hanaha said and waved her hand in front of my face. "Don't space out again. What's going on in your head?"

"The ichibi and kyuubi are having an argument about their hosts, which has nothing to do with me and my demon can't be bothered to chase the other two out of my mind."

"... You're one weird girl, Chii-kun," muttered Aki-chan. Then she launched into a speech about what she was going to do for the next month: a) go eat steak with Choji b) bother Shikamaru c) play pranks on everyone else d) spy on Dosu (he was going to be her opponent after all) if-and only if-she has time.

Then we saw Shino, Hanaha's would-be opponent. And the two of them just stared at each other like statues (probably because they were friends yet opponents and can't decide of they want to train with each other or not) until Akirai and I decided to leave them there and go on our merry way.

I myself didn't know what to do. I had to improve in my paper-manipulation of course. And find somemore stuff I could use in a fight, like new techniques or something. To think that I had to fight Kankuro. Last time I had a real fight with him was when I was seven (?) and I had lost. I didn't intend on losing again. But even though I knew that he could use chakra strings and control puppets, I knew naught about the full abilities of his puppet. And he was likely to improve on his puppet during this one month break. At least he didn't know what I could do either...

**Thanks.**

WHAT?! D-Did that selfish bastard sonofabitch mongrel demon just say a genuine word of g-gratitude? I've definitely gone insane. Not only do I hear voices in my head, the voices don't make any sense either.

**I heard the same thing as you did and I assure you it is impossible for me to be insane. But... Shukaku, will you please repeat what you just said?**

**Talk about insanity. Did I just hear you call me by my name without so much as a threat, insult or trace of rudeness? And I did say thanks. I'm in a very good mood right now and I do recall I made a deal with you? I don't mind having a lick of you now.**

_You're not making any sense, Shuka-chan. Yeah, I get that you want to lick me, but I don't understand what the thanks was for._

**Letting kyuubi and I to use your mind to chat. I think I may have won that argument. And I don't think the kyuubi's very happy about it.**

_In return for letting you use my mind as a demon chatting platform at all times, will you help me do something?_ I asked, still without any intention on using that precious favor he still owed me.

**That depends on your request.**

_Be my spy. Get me whatever info you can on Gaara's team. And by the way, how are you going to lick me? I am not walking up to Gaara and offering myself to be attacked by sand like some human sacrifice._

**Hmm... I'll find a way. But I want more than just a lick on top of using your mind as a demon chatting platform... In exchange for info.**

**This is bad, Kurai-ko. You're making too many deals with that demon. It's not a habit you should get into. In fact, it's unhealthy. **Yami sounded disgusted. **He's the epitome of all the sins a man could have: he's a pervert, a bloodaholic (is that such a word? Well, he doesn't get drunk on wine but blood...), a selfish-**

**Look who's talking. The demon of darkness, shadows, nightmares... Despair... Insanity...**

And there they go. Quarrelling again. Do demons never get along? No, wait. Kurama, Matatabi (the ni-bi) and Yami seem to get along fine. So it must be... Shukaku that's the problem.

Then I realised that Aki-chan had left me while I 'spaced-out' again. Maybe I'll go find Naruto. Go check on what he's doing and what he has planned for the rest of the month. Maybe I'll train with him. It wasn't too bad an idea. And if I walked far enough, maybe I'll get out of demon-talking range and they'd stop yelling at each other in my head.

Yes. I had better go find Naruto, before I find myself stalking the only other jinchuriki instead.

* * *

**Ja. That's all for now. You'll probably hear from me again in a month or so... My apologies in advance.**


	24. Chapter 24: The Toad Sage

**So sorry for the late update, I had an unpleasant combi of exams and writer's block. **

**Hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto... Why else would I be writing a fanfic?**

* * *

Chapter 16: The Toad Sage

_"He who angers you, conquers you. He who irritates you, wins you."_

When I found Naruto, I was surprised he wasn't with Kakashi-sensei. Perhaps Kakashi-sensei was going to train Chicken-ass-head instead? Well, our team didn't have anyone to train us... And I sure as hell wasn't complaining. I mean, look who Naruto got as a 'substitute sensei': some suspicious looking guy wearing all black with sunglasses. Well, he is Konohamaru's sensei... So he should technically be of some standard... But... Judging from what Naruto has told me about him...

I left Naruto soon after I saw him, cuz I didn't want to risk staying there and getting dragged into training with that weird perverted teacher. Please, they were in the hot springs for training. In the end, I decided to practice my origami.

First, I made several paper clones and sent them around the village to check on the other teams. Then I found a nice deserted clearing in the trees and folded an origami tanuki the size of a large dog. I added markings on it to make it resemble Shukaku, then I got the paper Shukaku to do weird stuff like prance around and chase after butterflies. Yami had a good laugh from that.

It occurred to me then that I was feeling rather idle. First of all, I was alone (Yami doesn't count), with nothing to do. I didn't really feel like training, but I didn't know what else to do either. My origami-making was a pathetic attempt at practicing for the final test. And I felt idiotic sitting by myself with only my paper creations to entertain me.

Through my paper clones, I knew that Hana-chan was chatting with Ten Ten about clothes and shopping-something I wasn't interested in. Aki-chan was chasing after Choji who had stolen her food. Shino was training. Neji was training. Shikamaru was playing shoji with Asuma-sensei. Sasuke was nowhere to be found and neither was Kakashi-sensei. I was the only one doing nothing.

After some consideration, I decided to have an early dinner. Then I began to people-watch. I'd stand in the shadows beside the donburi stall and watch the people who walk by. Not very interesting, but as I said, the only thing else I could do was train and I didn't feel like training.

Just as I was watching the couple across the street quarrel over their dinner and a lecherous-looking old man eyeing the lady with hungry eyes, someone walked past in front of me and momentarily blocked my view, before taking a seat near me.

"One beef yakiniku don, please," said the someone. I glanced to my left and saw Temari sitting there. I was still standing in the shadows, so I don't think she saw me... Yet.

Then Kankuro came along and sat on Temari's left... And it was the empty seat between Temari and where I was standing. Out of utter boredom, I didn't bother to process what I was about to do and just followed my impulse. I leaned nearer to Kankuro and whispered into his ear.

"_Boo_." It wasn't loud. Not at all. But Kankuro jumped in his seat with a gasp anyways. I bet he didn't notice me at all... till then.

Temari and Kankuro turned to stare at me, frowning slightly. I stared back at them with a bored expression on my otherwise blank face.

"What was that for?" demanded Kankuro just as Temari asked, "You're that girl who defeated Washi, aren't you?"

I shrugged. "I should think that a Suna shinobi like you shouldn't be so easily frightened..." then I addressed Temari, "Yeah. I am. Why?"

"I'm not that easily frightened," Kankuro protested irritably. "I just didn't notice you at first."

"So you're saying you're weaker than a Konoha genin? I mean, you didn't notice me. That says something, doesn't it?" I replied matter-of-factly. Kankuro was about to protest further when Temari cut in.

"You were also there with that... Uchiha boy and his teammates when we first arrived in Konoha."

"Hm? You mean the incident with Konohamaru and Kankuro?" I noted that the only name she mentioned was Mr Emo's.

"Yes. That. And what about the second test?" Temari continued. Huh?

"What about it?" I asked.

"Your teammate. I think her name's Akirai? She hinted that your team know more about us that you should," Kankuro growled. Oh Kami. What did Aki-chan say?

"What did she say?" I asked. Then the stall owner gave Kankuro and Temari their donburi. Kankuro picked up his chopsticks and gestured with it. I did not bother commenting on how rude it was to point one's chopsticks around like that.

"Vague stuff about raining needles, Gaara's sand, stealing prey and... Porcupine."

I stared at him. So she hinted that we could have been watching them in the Forest of Death huh? "Okaaay... And...?"

Their frowns deepened.

"What do you think about Gaara's sand coffin?" Temari asked suddenly. Okay. I was beginning to feel confused. I thought we were talking about the times our teams were together? And now... What was the point of this conversation?

"It's... Effective? But not fast enough?" I said tentatively while thinking about his agonizing fight with Lee, then I thought about it and added, "It needs improvement."

Right after I said that, I got a feeling that that hadn't been the right thing to say, because Temari and Kankuro were giving me very strange looks, as if I had gone mad.

**Well, a normal person wouldn't have said that a brutal killing technique such as the sand coffin would need improvement,**Yami pointed out. Hmm... She had a point.

"I think you should have realized by now that... My team's not quite normal," I told Temari. She nodded.

"Yes. And you seem more abnormal than the rest," Kankuro muttered. I frowned.

"I heard that," I said. "But look who's talking. You're from a desert, and you're wearing all black, with a cat-eared hood and purple face paint. And you play with dolls."

"Karasu is a puppet! Not a doll! Why you sure have some nerve to insult-"

"Oh please. You can't even detect my presence when I'm standing right beside you. I doubt you could do anything much to me," I interrupted him with a bored voice. "Learn from your siblings, dude. They're better than you, even though one of them's younger than you while the other is a girl."

"You...! Like hell I'll...! Gaara is a monste-"

"Kami! Is that...?!" OMFG! I swear I just saw someone that looked like...

It wasn't until I heard shouts of "Hey!" and "Wait a minute!" before I realized I had started to run, leaving the Sand Siblings rather abruptly with no explanation or warning whatsoever. But I ignored their loud protests and increased my speed anyways.

**It's his chakra. I'd know it anywhere,**commented Yami. Ah. I see. That confirms it then. I mean, I've only seen him through the memories Yami showed me, so I wasn't sure if the person I saw was actually him... But if Yami says it is him... Then it must be him.

The Pervert. The Hermit. The Toad. One of the Legendary Sannins. Jiraiya. And being the 'sage' he was, he disappeared soon after I left the Sand sibs and left me standing in the middle of a crowded street staring blankly at nothing in particular. And now that I've lost him, I have no idea where to start to look for him. I didn't even though why I wanted to find him. Maybe I thought it'd be cool and interesting to meet a Sannin face to face even if he is a pervert. And I needed to meet him to form my own judgement of him. It wasn't that I didn't trust Yami's analysis of him, but I was curious to find out for myself if he really was as perverted as she says. Besides, he is the guy who writes the series of books that Kakashi-sensei is so interested in... Maybe I could get an autograph and bribe Kakashi-sensei with it or something.

**Target located!**Yami suddenly announced. I smiled to myself... Until I realized where the shadows had found Jiraiya's chakra.

Okay, if anyone else was in the hot springs-and I knew there were plenty of people who went there-I would have paid them no mind. But Jiraiya in the hot springs? That was suspicious indeed.

As I made my way towards the hot springs, it occurred to me that that was where I last saw Naruto and his closet pervert of a substitute sensei. One loud-mouthed, hyperactive idiot, two perverts, and one hot spring. That pretty much spelled trouble.

Then their chakras disappeared. Well not exactly, but they were no longer in the hot springs except... What's his name? Something that sounded like prawn? Ebi-ebi-something. Anyways, Jiraiya's chakra seemed to have disappeared in my momentarily lapse in concentration while Naruto's seemed to be leaving the hot springs rather quickly. What was going on?

I managed to find Naruto in town just as he was... Coming out of a large jar?

"Naruto! What's going on?" I asked. He made a face.

"Long story short: Closet pervert found someone peeping at the women in the hot springs halfway through our lesson. Interrupted him and accused him of being a pervert. Then the guy summoned a toad out of nowhere and kicked closet pervert's ass. Now closet pervert is unconscious and I'm trying to get this guy, who's actually a pervy sage, to be my replacement sensei," grumbled Naruto. Ah... So that's what happened.

"Lemme guess... this pervy sage was the one who trapped you in a jar in order to get away from you?" I asked.

"Yeah..." Naruto muttered irritably. Then he stared at me. "Your team doesn't have a sensei, right?"

"Well, Aki-chan's unlikely to be training this month... She's probably gonna spend her time causing trouble. And Hana-chan doesn't seem like she's going to train very much either... But I guess I'll be training... Without a sensei."

"Hey! Why don't you join me? Help me find Ero-sennin, then we can get him to teach the both of us!" suggested Naruto. Hmm... Not such a bad idea. _Yami?_

**I think... It would be interesting,**Yami said. Alright then. Even if it's just for the sake of entertainment or something to do... So I accepted Naruto's offer.

"This way," I said as I pointed in the general direction of the forest. Yami had pinpointed his chakra there and he didn't seem like he was gonna change his location anytime soon.

"Wait... How do you know where-?"

"You know I have my ways," I told him. "The pervy sage you're referring to... He's Jiraiya, author of Icha-Icha Paradise, and one of the legendary sannins, right?"

"Eh? So you know him?"

"I don't. But my cat does," I said. Naruto nodded in understanding. I had informed him earlier that the Hokage wanted me to keep Yami a secret for awhile. I don't think he really saw the reason why, cuz I don't think he knows Yami is a demon... Yet. He probably thinks of Yami as a normal (but slightly creepy) companion cat that can talk... A bit like Pakkun, but cat version.

"Okay, let's go then," said Naruto.

We found Jiraiya lazing under the shade of some trees. Chuckling to himself. With a disgusting dreamy look on his face. I had no doubt what he was daydreaming about. However, as soon as Naruto threw some shurikens at him, he turned into a strange-looking tanuki. The toy/decoration type that one could sometimes find in gardens. (Although it did remind me of a certain demon that definitely didn't look as cute) **(A/N: This is based on my memory, not sure if its is accurate)**

"Eh? I knew that old man was no ordinary old man!" exclaimed Naruto. It would seem we had lost him. Again. But when we walked past the log, we hid behind the thick root of the tree. It was Naruto's idea though, and I must say, he's grown smarter. The tanuki, of course, was not really a tanuki. Afterall, for a replacement technique to work, you'd actually need that item to be lying around for you to use. Logs are most commonly used as they can be commonly found. Garden decorations however...

We didn't have to wait for long. The tanuki soon changed back into Jiraiya who began to laugh at Naruto's seeming foolishness at falling for his trick. Naruto, being Naruto, couldn't wait, and pounced on him once more. I decided to just follow him.

"Gotcha!" we yelled, much to Jiraiya's dismay. Then Jiraiya finally noticed me (Seriously, am I invisible or what?)

"Who are you? I don't remember seeing you before," he asked.

"I'm Chizuki. Yoruka Chizuki," I replied him with a grin. "Let's just say you've got one more person coming after you. Naruto invited me. I accepted."

Jiraiya groaned. "The two of you... Well I guess you kids have the potential... Tell you what. Find me a ripe 'fruit' that has matured into this shape (at this, he used his hands to make a fat pear shape in the air). Then I'll be your sensei."

I blinked. Did he just say what I thought he just said?

"Really?" asked Naruto delightedly.

"A sage doesn't go back on his words," replied Jiraiya. And I was convinced that he actually would teach us if we managed to find a ripe and curvy 'fruit'. Then to my alarm, I noticed that Naruto was already running off to find a 'ripe and curvy fruit'. Crap.

"Naruto!" I yelled as I chased after him. I had a feeling that idiot probably wouldn't know what Jiraiya really meant by a 'ripe and curvy fruit'.

When I finally caught up with Naruto, he had already bought a watermelon. A really big, fat, gourd-shaped watermelon. Just as I was about to tell him what a waste of money the fruit was, Yami stopped me and convinced me to let it be. Her reason? If Jiraiya really wants a 'ripe and curvy fruit', a ripe and curvy fruit he'll get.

It took us some tine to find Jiraiya again and it turned out that he had wandered off with some women. The pervert. His expression when he saw us running towards him, with Naruto hugging the watermelon and yelling "Ero-sennin!"... It was priceless.

"That's not what I asked for!" he groaned loudly.

"No. You asked for a 'ripe and curvy fruit'. Well, this is what we define as a ripe and curvy fruit," I replied smoothly.

In the end, Naruto and I ended up feasting happily on the watermelon (it was really sweet and juicy... Looks like Naruto chose the best watermelon around. Pity Jiraiya doesnt want it) while Jiraiya just sat there and watched us rather exasperatedly. When we were full and done, Jiraiya turned to find that the women he had been chatting with earlier had long disappeared. He appeared to be quite upset about it.

Just as he seemed like he was about to run off to either find them or find new women, Naruto stopped him with a yell.

"Hey! What about our training?!"

"What about your training?!"

"You said you'll teach us if we found you a ripe and curvy fruit!"

"Who cares about teaching you?! You ruined my research! What I need is a nice sexy babe!" protested Jiraiya exasperatedly. Naruto gaped with disbelief while I just snorted. Seriously? Research? For what? His perverted books?

"If all you want is sexy babe..." And without warning Naruto turned into a 'sexy' naked girl with long blonde hair tied into two ponytails. At least the mist from the transformation jutsu covered the important parts. And he/she still had his/her trademark whisker-like birthmarks on his/her face. When I turned to see Jiraiya's reaction, I realized his eyes were ten times bigger than normal.

"That is impressive! What do you call this technique?" he exclaimed excitedly just as Naruto seemed to blush while saying "Will you please stop staring at me? You're making me shy." in this cute innocent voice. Well, I guess he really does know how to act...

"I call it the sexy no jutsu," replied Naruto, still using that shy and cute voice.

"You're a genius!"

"So... Will you be our sensei?"

"Umm..." then Jiraiya looked away, as if he couldn't stand the allure and charm that Naruto had in his sexy-no-jutsu-form which was a relief, because I was getting sick of looking at the perverted expression on his face. "Well... I guess I will. On one condition."

We looked at him expectantly as he turned to face us again.

"Stay in that form whenever you're with me," he said. I think Naruto turned to stone for a second before transforming back into his normal self and began to accuse Jiraiya of just being a pervert. I expected that.

"No. I am not an ordinary pervert!"

"Don't deny it!"

"I am a... Super Pervert!" Jiraiya proclaimed proudly. That, I did not expect.

...

The first thing Jiraiya made Naruto as we began our training was to demonstrate his water-walking. Naruto managed to take a few steps on the water before descending into the river with a splash.

"How does that work?" I asked Jiraiya.

"You've never walked on water before?" he asked me. I shook my head. I've walked on land, trees, walls and ceilings before, but not water. In fact, I had never heard of such a thing before. I told him as much.

"It's the same concept," he replied. "You focus enough chakra onto your feet to counter gravity and keep your feet suspended on the water surface. You should try it too."

So I did. Focusing on my feet, I stepped onto the water gingerly, half expecting my foot to sink into the water. When it didn't, I continued to put my other foot onto the water too. It felt unsteady, like having tiny floats on my feet.

**You need a little more chakra,** said Yami. **And walk with more grace please. You're shaming the elegance of cats everywhere, walking like a two-legged dog. **

_...! First of all, I'm not a cat. Secondly, you're not a cat either. You're a dragon in the form of a cat. And I do not walk like a two-legged dog!_I protested. But still, I tried to follow her advice. Adjusting the chakra on my feet, I managed to gain a little more balance. Then I slowly walked towards where Naruto was sitting indigently in the water, soaking wet.

"I can't seem to get the hang of this! How did you do that so easily?" he said. I shrugged.

"Running, walking and sitting on ceilings ten hours a day, for four days, helped."

Naruto gave me a weird look. "What?"

"That's what my team did in the tower while waiting for the test to end. And there's a video we'd like you to watch. Akirai'll show you some other time."

He gave me another weird look and strode through the water towards the river bank. I followed him on the water top, and got soaked by the big splashes he was making.

"What are you doing?" I demanded when he began undressing, taking his jacket off first, followed by his pants and shirt, until all he wore was a pair of boxers. I must admit, his body wasn't too bad, slight muscles toned by shinobi training.

"Taking off my clothes. They're wet and heavy. It'll be easier without them on." he simply said and I thought, at least he's still wearing his boxers... And Jiraiya just had to add, "Hey, you should take yours off too."

I took off... my shoes and threw them at him. "Pervert! I'd sooner kiss the Uchiha than take off my clothes for you!"

"Chizuki, what did you just say?" Naruto asked me with a disgusted expression.

"It is the lesser of two evils," I replied, also feeling disgusted at the thought of kissing Sasuke. But I had a feeling a blonde girl with green eyes may not mind... Just a hunch though. I had no concrete evidence pointing to that yet.

"Hmm..." said Naruto and closed his eyes. I could see him trying very hard to focus his chakra on his feet. Then I was surprised when I saw signs appear on his stomach.

**That's Kurama's seal. Well, not his seal per se, but the seal that keeps him within Kyuubi-kun,** said Yami. **Wait, bend closer. **

So I did, I got a closer look at the seals on his stomach, then jumped a little when I heard the kyuubi's voice in my head.

**Done staring? It's the work of Orochimaru. I wouldn't really care about it if it didn't make my stay here even more uncomfortable than it already is. **

_**What?!**_I asked at the same time as Yami.

**That pedo-snake! Their whole team must have met him in the Forest of Death then. After all, there's the cursed seal that the Uchiha got,**muttered Yami.

**Wait. What's that pervy sage gonna do?**said Kurama. I brought my attention back to my surroundings and saw that Jiraiya had gotten Naruto to focus his chakra with his hands raised higher. Jiraiya had a hand behind his back and his fingertips were glowing with blue chakra.

_Now you're calling him pervy sage too?_I asked the fox demon. Kurama grunted.

**After hearing the kid say it so many times, be it aloud or in his head, I got influenced into saying it too,**he replied irritably.

Then Jiraiya suddenly struck Naruto in his stomach with his fingertips-glowing-hand and Naruto fell backwards. We watched as the foreign seal faded away.

"What the hell was that for?!" demanded Naruto.

"Just hitting some pressure points. You should be able to do it better now," replied Jiraiya casually. The liar. But of course, when Naruto tried to water-walk again, he succeeded.

"Hey Jiraiya," I said as we watched Naruto experimenting with jumping and cheering on the water. "Who teaches you guys these sort of seals and unsealing methods?"

He started and gave me a weird look. "You saw what happened just now? Damn, I forgot you were looking."

Yep, either he's blind, got short-term-memory problems, or I'm invisible even when I don't try to be. Aloud, I demanded, "What's wrong with me watching? And you haven't answered my question."

He gave me another weird look. "How much do you know?" he asked.

"How much do I know about what?" I asked in return. This guy is starting to get on my nerves.

"Like, where he got that seal from and what does it do."

"Which seal? Honestly, you gotta be more specific. Otherwise you're just gonna get another watermelon."

**I sometimes wonder why you're still bothering getting answers from him if he's being so vague. And if you're gonna bother, you should do so with more patience,**Yami said in an annoyingly zen voice.

"Both seals," said Jiraiya. Finally we're getting somewhere.

"Well one seal is for Kurama. I don't know who did it. Probably his parents or the Hokage or something. The other seal, the one that's not supposed to be there and is no longer there, disrupts the chakra flow between Kurama and him. Probably done on purpose by a pedophile."

"Kurama? You mean the Kyuubi? You know it's name? And why do you say pedophile?"

Shit. Did I just let on that I know more than I should? "Umm... Yeah. Uh... A pedophile is an old dude like you who goes after children like me, right? Well the Uchiha is my age... and Snakey is your age right?"

**Snakey? Did you just call Orochimaru 'Snakey'? That pedo-snake doesn't deserve such an affectionate title! Have you gone mad?**roared Kurama and Yami at the same time. I think I'm gonna get a headache if they continue shouting in my head like that.

"So, how do you learn to do seals like that?" I asked Jiraiya again, in case he forgot my original question. Then Naruto joined us, looking extremely pleased with himself.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked.

"Nothing. Jiraiya is just being very irritating like he always is," I replied. And in the end, Jiraiya didn't answer my question anyways.

As we went off for dinner that evening, Jiraiya said, "I'm going to teach you guys something new tomorrow."

"Eh? Like what?" I asked just as Naruto cheered.

"You'll see," was his vague reply. Kami, this toad was so good at irritating me, I felt like asking him to be my sensei at annoying people! Minus the perverted and flirty stuff, that is.

...

The next day, after a nice camp out on someone's roof under the stars, I returned to the inn where Naruto and Jiraiya had decided to stay, only to find Naruto and Jiraiya gone. Okay, so I wasn't very surprised that the old perverted toad disappeared on me, but Naruto? Unless Jiraiya kidnapped the boy and left.

With Yami's excellent senses, I tracked them down and found them in a glen in the forest. Naruto was trying to... Summon something, and failing, while Jiraiya was checking out some... Uh... Female bodies... Probably for his 'research'.

"Oi! Jiraiya! What are you guys up to?" I demanded as soon as I reached him. I noticed that there was a really huge scroll beside him.

Jiraiya looked away from his 'research' long enough to give me an annoyed look that told me that I was interrupting something very important. Right. As if ogling at half-naked women was important.

"I'm teaching Naruto how to summon toads," he replied. Some teacher he is. Then he stared at me for a while, as if analyzing me, and not in the way he 'analyzed' some women.

"Perhaps I should teach you how to summon a toad too," he finally said after a long time of staring at me and making me wonder what he's up to. Summon a toad? Was he kidding me? On one hand, the ability to summon toads would be good to have to freak out Aki-chan. On the other hand, I didn't really like toads much myself.

"Uh... No thanks," I said to him hastily. "I don't think I want to summon toads. Maybe some bird. Or cats. But definitely not toads."

Jiraiya gave me another long look. "What about summoning a snake or a slug?"

My answer was an automatic "_Nothankyou_."

"Do you want to learn how to summon anything?" Jiraiya asked next.

"That would be cool. And useful. But I don't care for summoning snakes, or slugs, or toads, or turtles, or... Anything cold-blooded," I replied and glanced over to where Naruto was still slamming his palm onto the ground and still failing to summon anything.

"What about dragons? Dragons are cold-blooded," Jiraiya said. Alright... This is starting to feel like some interrogation of sorts.

"Dragons? That's not possible, is it? There aren't any real dragons to summon, are there? Unless it's a demon... Is it possible to summon a demon?" I said, thinking of Yami.

"It is... Possible to summon... A demon if the demon isn't... Sealed. A dragon demon... Now where did you get that idea from?" Jiraiya said with a frown. Oh dear... I did not like the direction this conversation was heading.

"Uh... I just assumed that most animals, legendary or not, can be found in the form of a demon," I replied quickly. Too quickly perhaps, judging from the look on Jiraiya's face.

"Perhaps," Jiraiya said somewhat grudgingly. "But if you could choose an animal to summon, what would you choose?"

"Cat," I answered. I liked cats, and it has nothing to do with Yami or the fact that her preferred form was that of a nekomata.

Jiraiya looked somewhat thoughtful, then glanced back at the women he was 'doing research about'. Just as I thought he was going to go back to his 'research' and ignoring me, he got up, stared at Naruto, then turned back to me.

"Help me keep an eye on him for a while. I need to go and get something," he said, then summoned a toad and left on it. While wondering about where he could have gone off to, I approached Naruto.

"Hey Naruto, what did the old pervert tell you to do?" I asked him. Startled, Naruto jumped a little, gave me a glare that wasn't in the least bit intimidating, and as usual, complained, "Where did you come from? How many times have I told you that a little warning would be nice?"

"Well, you just gotta learn how to sense people better otherwise other ninjas could easily sneak up on you and kill you," I said, and waited for him to stop pouting and answer my question. He did in a while.

"I'm supposed to summon a toad and in order to summon one, I'm just supposed to do some hand seals, use a bit of my blood while slamming my palm onto the ground and apply chakra," he replied. He gave me a demonstration and after a poof of smoke, a small wriggling tadpole appeared on the ground beneath his palm.

"Well, that's a start. You can't expect to summon a toad on your first try, I guess," I said at an attempt to be encouraging as I stared at the miserable summon.

"That was my twenty-third try! I'm going to take a break." Wow, he was counting? Okay, encouragement failed.

"By the way, where has the pervy sage gone to?" Naruto asked when he realized that Jiraiya was no longer around.

"Who knows. Say, why don't you try applying more chakra?" I said. Naruto sulked a bit more, then he agreed to continue trying.

After his twenty-fourth attempt, upon applying more chakra, he only managed to summon another tadpole. I tried convincing him that the tadpole was bigger than the one he summoned earlier. Hey, it really did look bigger, okay? Slightly bigger... But still.

Jiraiya returned two hours later, after Naruto had made forty-ninth attempts at summoning tadpo-I mean, toads. Naruto was taking a break and I was having a game of shogi with Yami (if I don't practice with the great shadow demon, how else am I supposed to win a shogi match with Shukaku?) in my head, when the pervert returned, carrying two gigantic scrolls, one of which was the one I had seen earlier, probably the scroll of contracts for summoning toads. I did not recognize the other scroll.

"Here. I'll be teaching you the summoning jutsu today." Jiraiya said as he tossed the unfamiliar scroll at me. It landed at my feet and unravelled itself to reveal two names written in blood, along with their respective finger prints. It was a scroll for signing contract with a summon. The question was, what animal was the summon?

* * *

**That's all for now. Please review and give me your opinions! What animal do you think Chizuki will be taught to summon?**


	25. Chapter 25: Summoning Jutsu

**Okay, if I'm not wrong, I should be adding in a memory of Akirai's here, but I'm still working on it, so it'll come up with the next chapter next time. While you wait for it, here's another chapter! (I figured that since I've broken this chapterX2-memory-chapterX2 pattern before, it shouldn't matter if I break it once more. Don't worry, I won't do this too often... though I get the feeling quite a lot of you prefer reading proper chapters instead of memories, right? Lolz)**

**Disclaimer: this is fanfiction. what I don't own should be obvious, so... ON WITH THE STORY~!**

* * *

Chapter 17: Summoning Jutsu

_"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."_

The scroll has two names written in it. Only two people have summonned this animal before, for some reason or another. I bit my thumb and wrote my name in the third column of the scroll with my blood. Then I smeared the blood onto my other fingers and pressed them onto the space below my name. There. The contract is signed.

"Naruto has already explained to you how to do this, right?" Jiraiya asked. I nodded. He watched as I performed the necessary steps, before slamming my bloodied palm onto the ground. Bloody signs appeared on the ground, radiating from my palm. There was a poof of smoke and...

Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened.

I tried it again, and again, and again, and Jiraiya got bored and went back to his 'research'. I now fully understood Naruto's frustration. And Yami was no help. She had decided it was rather warm and a fine time to take a nap.

"Ganbatte," Naruto said monotonously. No, not really monotonously. It was more like a half-whine and half-soul-flying-away kind of voice. It was the sympathetic encouragement of someone who needed as much encouragement.

"Same to you. You've tried, what? Fifty times already?"

"Fifty-two," he replied miserably. Still counting, eh? I wondered if I should start counting too, then decided against it. It'll just make me feel more stressed and frustrated.

We had lunch soon after, and resumed training after lunch. Neither of us had any success, while Jiraiya paid us little attention, except when we accidentally disrupted his 'work'... Although I did try my best not to 'disrupt' his 'work'. Really.

The day passed agonizingly slowly. It was quite boring. The two of us just quite repeating the same things over and over again with no success. Naruto kept summoning tadpoles, while I kept summoning nothing. However, I wouldn't call it a waste of time or energy, because it wasn't. If it was really necessary to keep summoning nothing first, in order to summon something, then I'd do it. I mean, might as well get 'summoning nothing' done and over with, as quickly as possible, right?

...

Time passed and we made slow progress together. Approximately two weeks later, after Naruto succeeded in summoning a tadpole with hind legs, and Jiraiya kept screaming at us to release more chakra and cursing us for having no talent, I finally managed to summon something! It was my two-hundred-and-thirty-seventh try. I didn't count, but Yami did, just to annoy me.

"Uh... Chizuki, what's that?" Naruto asked as he stared at my summon. I stared at it too.

"It's a... Well, it's supposed to be a cat..." I replied and continued to stare at the small ball of fur on the floor. It was the size of a large pomegranate, and had orange fur with black stripes, just like a tiger. Then the ball of fur uncurled itself at I saw a very cute face staring back at us with big silvery green eyes. The cute moment was immediately shattered by a loud 'mrrreow!' followed by a lot of hissing when the kitten glared at us, eyes blazing with fury and sharp little teeth bared.

"It doesn't seem to like us," commented Naruto unnecessarily. Then the kitten started coughing. And snarling. Like it was going to spit out a hairball... And it did. Kind of... Well no. It spit out a small ball of liquid fire.

A flaming ball shot out of it's mouth and landed at our feet where it began to pool, and fizz and sizzle. The grass around it began to burn and get swallowed up by the pooling fire. This was probably the first time I've seen fire acting like a liquid though, and I didn't know what to do with it.

Naruto and I quickly poured our drinking water over the small puddle of flames. The thing exploded into smoke as soon the water touched it. When the smoke cleared, all that was left was a patch of damp but burnt grass. We glanced back at the kitten who was still hissing at us, fur standing up and crackling with energy. The air around the kitten rippled, as if the kitten itself was radiating heat waves. Just as we began to sweat, the kitten gave one last 'mrrreow!' and vanished in a small poof of smoke.

"What the hell was that?! A kitten?!" Naruto demanded. Yes, it was small and cute enough to look like a frightened and angry month-old kitten.

"I really don't know. Jiraiya said-Where's Jiraiya?" I said, also feeling quite bewildered.

"He was just... There," Naruto pointed at an empty spot beside us. Right. Now where was that pervert when we need him?

"I'm back! Did I miss anything?" Jiraiya yelled as he strolled towards us. Speak of the devil and the devil appears.

"Perverted toad! What am I supposed to be summoning?" I yelled back at him. "A hellcat or something?!"

"Oh. It's a type of bakeneko actually. Forged from fire and lightning... An ancient clan of-"

"Quit the myths and legends. Why did the kitten I summoned spit uh... Liquid fire?" I interrupted.

"Because these cats come from the mountain of raining fire, also called Kazan," Jiraiya said. "It so happened that I had an old aquaintance who received this scroll from his grandfatherfor safekeeping, and didn't know what to do with it nor how to return it to the bakenekos of Kazan." **(A/N: Kazan literally means 'Fire Mountain' in Japanese, although most translate it as 'volcano')**

"The kitten reminded me of Aki-chan," Naruto commented. Yes, it did. A very angry Aki-chan.

"Who's Aki-chan?" asked Jiraiya. Naruto and I exchanged glances.

"Ryuusei Akirai is my teammate. Why don't I introduce you to her sometime? It'll be interesting," I said.

Interesting would be an understatement, Yami laughed. It'll be as exciting as pouring water over a kazanneko.

Right. After her analogy, I'm suddenly not sure if I should let Aki-chan and Jiraiya meet. The risk's probably worth it though. Just thinking about it makes me grin in anticipation. It actually sounded more interesting than trying to summon a kazanneko.

I waited awhile before trying to summon a kazanneko again. I gave both Jiraiya and Naruto fair warning before doing so... Unlike a certain toad who didn't inform me exactly what I was summoning and what might happen when I do succeed.

The summoning was... A little better than the last time, because the kitten I summoned was sleeping. It looked slightly older than the previous one, maybe two months old? It was black with a bluish tint in the sunlight, and reminded me of Yami, though Yami was and more... Shadowy colored, and certainly older and more demonic.

After my fourth Kazan kitten summon, I decided that it was time for a break. A looong break. A one week long break. Because I have had enough of doing liquidfire damage control. Jiraiya and Naruto agreed. Jiraiya didn't like getting interrupted by frantic yells of "Shit! Fire!" from Naruto and I during his 'research', and Naruto liked himself orange and clean, not black and ashy. At least the kittens have yet to aim high when breathing fire. I didn't want to risk it though. Plus they spoil Naruto's concentration.

The day after my week-long break (three weeks since we started training), and Naruto's 'success' at summoning a tadpole with four legs (and passed out right after that), Jiraiya told Naruto to do a hell lot of things that seemed suspiciously last-day-alive-ish. Like eat a hell lot of ramen and attempting to hug Sakura, which in itself was rather suicidal. Jiraiya tried to do the same with me but I told him I saw no point in it, since I was pretty sure I wasn't going to die anytime soon. Instead, I brought him to see Akirai.

Aki-chan was in our apartment by herself, which I knew experience, meant that she was up to no good. The first thing I did was to check the apartment for any... Major changes, such as wall-repainting, or graffiti, or replacement of furniture, or an addition of a doomsday device... One never knows with Akirai.

"What's she doing with that pile of wood?" Jiraiya asked me as we stood at the entrance of the apartment. I glanced at Aki-chan who was...

"Ryuusei Akirai! _What on earth_ are you doing with _Karasu_?!"

Aki-chan looked up. "Oh, you're back."

"Akirai? Karasu?" I prompted.

"Hmm? You mean the puppet? I was just checking out its store of weapons and making modifications to it."

"You mean adding more dangerous weaponry to it or disabling it?" I asked.

"Both. Kind of. I'm making it more dangerous for Cranky to use," Aki-chan replied casually, as if she wasn't-Wait.

"Did you just call Kankuro 'Cranky'?"

"Eh? Oh, did I say that? I meant 'Kanky'," Aki-chan said. She said it so dismissively, so un-Aki-chan-ish, that I knew she had meant to say 'Kanky' in front of others...

"How is Kankuro cranky? I know he's an idiotic jerk, and a horrible brother but-"

"I let loose an army of clay ants, he was still cursing about them after I left with Karasu. Besides, the nickname sounds nice on him," Akirai interrupted, then had the grace to look sheepish. Ah, that explains how she stole Karasu. An army of clay ants? Since Akirai uses her blood when molding her chakra into the clay, it makes most of her sculptures red, unless painted, disguised or transformed otherwise. So change that to an army of explosive red ants, cuz I rarely see (rarely=two or three times in the four five years I've known her) her use her clay for non-explosive purposes.

"When was that? Does Kankuro know that you've stolen his precious puppet?" I asked, a little worriedly. As much as I hated that guy and wished to annoy him to the last day of his life, I didn't want unnecessary trouble.

"Relax. I jammed his room door. He'll need to get that lock replaced before he can get in again. Since I've had this puppet for about half-an-hour, I still have half-an-hour to return it," Aki-chan, totally in her element. Of course. When it comes to pranks, she's so methodical and precise that if she doesn't want to get caught, she won't.

"Good, now spend that half-an-hour returning that altered puppet back to it's original state and return it," I said. "I don't want him to suspect anything when he meddles with his puppet again."

"Honestly, he won't notice a thing. Not unless he tries to kill us. Then his puppet will whack out. Otherwise, if he's attacking some other poor nin, it will work fine for him," Aki-chan said. I still have yet to get used to her unusual intelligence and foresight when it comes to pranks though.

"Fine. Anyway, Aki-chan, I'd like you to meet Jiraiya. Jiraiya, meet Ryuusei Akirai," I said. Aki-chan looked, really looked, at me and the person towering behind me.

"TOAD!" she shrieked and leapt up. "Oh my Kami! It's a freakin' giant toad!"

Jiraiya and I had to dodge several fireballs and and lightning bolts soon afterwards. She even breathed fire so big and fierce that it would put an average Uchiha to shame.

"Akirai! Don't set our home on fire dammit!" I yelled at her as another furious fireball roared past and nearly killed the sofa.

"Get rid of that hideous _thing_!" shouted Aki-chan in return, pointing at Jiraiya, who managed to look bewildered, offended yet amused at the same time. I shoved him out of the door and he didn't quite resist. One last lightning bolt shot past before I slammed the door shut, and fried some of Jiraiya's hair.

"Phew, I didn't think she'd identify you as a toad so fast. She must have toad-radar or something," I said, more to myself than Jiraiya. Then I made a dark clone slip under the door and give Akirai the message to replace any thing that got damaged by her fight or flight response to toads.

"Alright, Naruto should be done by now. Shall we go find him?" I said as we walked away from my apartment. "Oh, and how do you find Akirai?"

"That girl is one spitfire," was all he said. Then he looked thoughtfully at me. A couple of days was enough for me to know that a thoughtful Jiraiya usually isn't a good thing.

"What kind of clone was that earlier?" he asked. Yep, definitely not a good thing. I slipped. Accidentally used Yami's shadow abilities. In front of Jiraiya.

"Uh... A shadow clone?" I replied. Hey, it was the literal truth. The clone did come from my shadow.

"Then why were its sclera black and it's irises blue and red?" Jiraiya asked. Man, he was too observant. How did he manage to see the eyes of a shadow creeping under a door?

"Does it matter?" I asked. Actually, Jiraiya should have a good guess about the secret by now. At least he's from Konoha. Wait. Orochimaru was also once from Konoha, right? Well, Jiraiya seems like he can be trusted, perverted toad or not. And Yami had yet to seriously warn me about him.

"No, I guess not," Jiraiya said, with the look of an adult that knows that a child has done something wrong but prefers to pretend he doesn't know. Except that I wasn't doing anything wrong.

After we met up with Naruto, Jiraiya brought us to a huge chasm in the woods. I was automatically attracted to the dark gigantic crack that could probably fit a few mansions. Naruto joined me in peering down into the abyss.

"What are we doing here?" I asked suspiciously without turning to face him. I should have. At least, Yami stayed silent. I took that as a good sign... Sort of.

Less than a second later, I was falling into the dark chasm. Judging from the screaming beside me, I guess Naruto must have been pushed in by Jiraiya too. Seriously, what on earth was the toad thinking? The both of us were undoubtedly gonna die unless... Oh. Unless I use Yami, or summon a gigantic kazanneko, or Naruto summon a gigantic toad.

I chose to summon the kazanneko. Yami would be the last resort. I concentrated all of my chakra and tried a mid-air summon. Nothing happened. Not even a tiny kitten appeared. I panicked.

**The cats must have gotten annoyed by you summoning so many of their kittens,**Yami said. She didn't seem bothered that I was gonna die with a splat if I didn't manage to summon a kazanneko in time. So was Naruto, if he doesn't manage to summon a toad for that matter. Yami knew that I wasn't suicidal and was definitely not gonna allow Naruto to die if Kurama doesn't help him either, so she also knew that I would use her in the end, or she'd step in herself. Sometimes I do wonder how long she's interested in keeping me alive, since she could easily hop host if I died.

**There's no time for you to think about this kind of stuff, Kurai-ko. And since you're the only host who has lasted for thirteen years with me, not to mention the youngest and most interesting, I'd like to continue sticking around for another twenty years or so. Maybe more,** Yami said. **Now use my chakra and summon a cat. They'd definitely respond to my chakra. They can't possibly ignore it. **

So I did. I used her chakra, performed the necessary hand signs and all, there was a biiig poof! And I was suddenly riding on a cat. A gigantic cat. It was almost as big as a... a... demon, and had orange and white fur. The cat leapt gracefully onto the rock face and clung there like a mountain cat. Then it turned its head and stared at me. It had unfriendly yellow eyes.

"Uh... Hi? Thanks for coming," I said to the expressionless cat. In a distant, I could hear Naruto yelling at someone.

**He summoned the chief of toads?!**Yami suddenly exclaimed. Okaaay... Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja.

"Who are you?" the cat demanded. Sounded like a 'he' from the voice but couldn't be sure.

"Yoruka Chizuki, honored to meet you," I replied, a little nervously. _Please don't throw me off your back,_I begged in my head.

"Yoruka? You don't so happen to be related to Yoruka Hikaru, do you?" the cat asked. I blinked.

"Who?"

"Yoruka Hikaru. Well, he's the latest descendant of my previous summoner... That I know. He's from Suna, dark hair uh... Forgot his eye color. His mother's clan is the only one that can use wind clones and use the wind release for other elemental-based attacks."

"Uh... What?" Okay... This conversation was getting weird. _Yami?_

**Yoruka Hikaru... Yoruka Hikaru... Sounds familiar... Just a moment...**came Yami's reply as she ran through her memories. Suddenly, there was a jerk and I nearly flew off the cat's back.

"Paying attention?" the cat said. I nodded.

"Good. I don't want to waste any more time with you than necessary. There are three kittens in our clan that could benefit from shinobi training. They are four months old and extremely hard to tame. If you can get them to listen to you, you can summon them any time you like," the cat said and leapt onto the ledge that Jiraiya had pushed me off earlier. He threw me onto the ground before saying, "Try summoning one of us again and we'll send them along for you to try out."

Just as the cat looked like he was about to leave, I quickly asked him for his name. "Ranne" was his reply.

Before I could summon anything, there was a loud thump and a giant toad landed beside me. It was bigger than any toad I've ever seen Jiraiya summon (hell, it was even bigger than the cat I summoned) and Naruto was sitting on it's head. Speaking of which, where had Jiraiya disappeared off to?

"You're okay!" I yelled at Naruto in relief. He gave me a panicked look.

"I have to stay on him for the whole day if I want to-_aaaaaaaahhhhhh!_" he shrieked as the toad jumped away. Oh dear.

Just when he finally managed to summon a proper toad, it had to be the chief, groaned Yami. But I guess it can't be helped if Kurama isn't being helpful. Probably gave him too much chakra.

I sighed and remembered I had my own task to do. So while Naruto goes off trying to ride a giant toad chief, I have to tame three kittens. How hard could that be? Judging from Yami's laughter, very hard indeed.

...

The first kitten was black and white with pale sky blue eyes. It's medium-length fur was neat and well-cleaned, and it had a haughty attitude. It's name was Rineko.

The second kitten was pale gold with greenish turquoise blue eyes. It's fur was messy and spiked up everywhere, and it had a mischievous face. It's name was Hineko. The similarities between this kitten and a friend of mine were too similar. I glanced back at the first kitten. I had a bad feeling about this.

The third, and also the last, kitten was gray with darker gray markings (a mixture of stripes and spots). It had yellowish lime green eyes, short silky fur and a nonchalant air. It's name was Kaneko.

"So... Who are you?" Rineko asked. Well, she asked politely enough, but it felt like a demand.

"Yoruka Chizuki, I-"

"Ah... you're the one in charge of us," Hineko cut in. Uh oh. This cannot be happening.

"Ranne-sensei must have dumped us on you," remarked Kaneko. Dumped?

"Well, now that we're here, iiit's... Playtime!" shrieked Hineko and went wild. She was off like a streak of lightning, breathing liquid fire as she went. One ball of lava spit shot past Kaneko, nearly singeing her fur. Kaneko frowned, stood up, made a show of licking her fur while Hineko fled, then proceeded to chase after the other kitten with a smirk. Rineko merely sighed, lay down, and went to sleep. Her fur crackled with energy, an indicator that waking her up would be a very bad idea. Did I mention that though they looked like kittens, they were slightly bigger than normal full-grown cats?

_What now?_I asked Yami. How was I supposed to get any of them to listen to me when they don't even listen to their Kazan feline sensei?

**Find their interests or weaknesses,** Yami replied. Right._ Is there anything I need to know about these felines other than their abilities?_

**They hate veg. That's about it. Everything else depends on the individual.**

Okay. Trial number one, here we go.

...

Picture this: There's me, shouting and chasing after two kazanneko, while another kazanneko sleeps in the sun. There's Naruto, yelling while clinging on to an irritable giant toad that's leaping and charging here and there. There's Jiraiya sitting out of the way, enjoying the show. That lasted the whole afternoon.

When evening came, my suspicions were finally confirmed. These kittens were very similar to and yet very different from the members of my team. Hineko loved toads as much as Akirai hates them... But she's afraid of spiders. She also loves sour candy, but cares naught for the sweet ones. Kaneko doesn't mind anything much, but she loves mint or fruit chocolate. She doesn't like any other kind of chocolate though. Did I mention that she adores tanukis? She thinks they're cute and funny. Rineko... Well, the only time I managed to wake her up was when I was nearly bitten by a scorpion that Kaneko found. She opened one eye, had the most amused expression, meowed something in a mock stern voice, and went back to sleep. To my surprise, the scorpion stop bothering me after that.

In the end, I made a dozen origami spiders and sent them after Hineko, who shrieked and panicked, running into the still-sleeping Rineko. Kaneko collapsed while trying to suppress her laughter.

"Alright guys," I said. "Here's my deal. Hine, you can play all you like so long as you listen to me when I need you to. If you don't, I've got spiders. If you do, I just may treat you to a sour lolly. Kane, I promise you entertainment if you stay around me... Plus mint chocs. Rine, you know that if I can't handle you guys, Ranne will be in charge of you guys again... Or maybe someone worse. Listen to me and you get to stay with me and probably have more fun and freedom than if you were under some other feline teacher. You could sleep all you like as long as you help me out when I need you to. I could also let Hine and Kane play somewhere else so that you can do whatever you want in peace. What about that?"

There was a long silence in which the three kittens exchanged glances, broken only by a loud splash in a distance. Then...

"We can be a team! A squad!" Hineko exclaimed excitedly.

"We need a team name," Kaneko said.

"I thought we already had one?" Rineko asked. I sighed. These kittens... At least they're cooperating...

"Let me guess, you're Team Hikari?" All of them turned to stare at me, like I-can't-believe-you-guessed-it-right! But it wasn't that hard, considering their names. I wondered who named them cuz I doubt they're siblings. All three of them looked totally different.

Rineko yawned. "Maybe we should go back. I need a cat nap."

"You've been sleeping the whole day!" Hineko protested. But it was evening, and I was getting hungry, so I said goodnight to the Hikari kittens.

On my way out of the forest, I saw the gigantic red toad from earlier. It was not as wild as before and it appeared to be carrying Naruto who was unconscious. I followed behind, making sure that the scary toad did not notice me. Interestingly, the toad dropped Naruto off at the Konoha hospital. Seems like Naruto has gained its respect.

Feeling rather satisfied, I wandered around Konoha after dinner. Shukaku gave me some updates on the Sand Siblings, none of which were pleasant. Apparently they're plotting something against Konoha. He didn't tell me exactly what, nor when and where their plot will be carried out though. He was too interested in telling me about how funny a Sound nin tastes like. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a snack recently... Wonder which poor dude got eaten.

**Oh, and did you know that someone managed to mysteriously modify that puppet brat's doll? He now has to re-modify it all over again. It'll probably take him another few days to finish working on that doll of his,**Shukaku said as he finished his 'report'.

Hmm... I suppose Kankuro deserves it. Hopefully, he hasn't discovered who was the culprit. Hopefully he hasn't discovered Aki-chan's more subtle modifications either. I'll have to tell my teammates about this. Then I stared up at the sky and muttered into the wind, "Thanks for the info, Shuka-chan."

Even though he was probably a half-a-mile away, I knew he heard me because the synchronized gagging of two demon's could be heard in my head.

* * *

**Hmm... this chapter seems a little shorter than the others... oh well, can't be helped. That's all for now~ Next up will be a memory plus a chapter (if I can get it out fast enough) probably in one to two weeks time! Please review and let me know what you think of this chapter~! XD**


	26. Chapter 26: Memory VIII

**Here's another memory chapter. I know my time and ages are screwed, so just bear with me unless what I'm suggesting is actually so ridiculous, then review and let me know. And there are factors in this chapter that I'm not sure are accurate either... Cuz I did as much research as I could but I couldn't seem to find the proper answers so I had to make do with what I've got. Hope you like the chapter anyways. **

**Disclaimer: Me? Own Naruto? Who am I kidding?**

* * *

_Memory VIII: Geijutsu_

"A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the doer or giver."

_After our family moved into Iwa, I never got to stay there for long either. Okaa-san and Otou-san would often bring me away from the village to train me. They_ planned_ on enrolling me into the ninja academy later this year though._

_Training was fun but tiring, and while I enjoyed burning things up and creating explosions, it also meant that I had less time for playing with Hana-chan. I had yet to meet that blond onii-san from before too. I mean, I did see him once or twice, but that was when he was busy with some other business, so I never got to say hi._

_One day, Hana-chan came to join me in training! Apparently, her parents also wanted her to start training before entering the academy too! So I got to play with her and I have concluded that Hana-chan is evil! No matter how much I try to outsmart her, she somehow manages to counterattack! And her plants are the most resilient weeds I've ever encountered!_

_Hana-chan mostly uses vines to attack. They can grow really big thorns, and they get part of their energy from the sun, so that means she doesn't need as much chakra to use them! Sometimes she uses Venus flytraps, which have sharper teeth than a plant should have. And her plants seem to take so long to burn and die! Even after I blow off a vine, it just regrows itself!_

_After playing with Hana-chan a lot, I began to learn how to kill her plants more effectively though, such as blowing up it's roots instead of it's vines. Sending a stream of fire down the throat of her Venus flytrap works pretty well too. And the explosion is much bigger and much more satisfying. After that, Hana-chan learned how to control dead plants too..._

_Apparently, after our parents talked to us about the nature of our chakra, i found out out that Hana-chan's ability to control plants is some special thing that her paternal grandmother developed from the wood release. So it was sorta like a 'fake' 'kekkai genkai'? My explosion release came from Otou-san who's part Kumo and part Iwa. And I got my fire and lightning chakra from Okaa-san. Cool right?_

_I couldn't wait to show all these new stuff I've learnt to the blonde onii-san... Until I suddenly realized that it would be very embarrassing to tell him that I forgot his name... I considered asking my parents about it, but I wasn't sure if they'd ask too many questions. I didn't want them to know how many times I've sneaked out of the house to meet him. And I wasn't sure if they'd know him either, since they aren't exactly Iwa shinobi. But I didn't know who else to ask... Perhaps some random Iwa nin? The best bet would be to ask the Tsuchikage... But that's kinda... Scary... And I don't think the kage would want to bother answering such a trivial question to a kid like me... I bet he's really busy with other stuff... That's more important than my question._

_The day before my birthday party (we were celebrating earlier cuz Hana-chan needed to leave Iwa the next night) I began to get reeeally emo. Hana-chan kept saying I looked like I had wilted or something and tried to cheer me up by 'watering' me... Then when the presents arrived, I got this huge parcel full of fruit candy from Hana-chan's okaa-san and I kept myself occupied by stuffing myself with candied apples until my parents got quite worried... Did I overdo it? The candy was delicious... Though the last prezzie was the best._

_One hour after all the presents had arrived on my birthday itself, just as we were about to have cake, Hana-chan found a small bundle at the door, when she had gone out to admire some weird poisonous looking fungus in the garden. The bundle was smaller than my palm and just nice for me to hold in one hand. When I undid the strings tying it, the brown wrapping paper opened up to reveal... A clay whistle in the shape of a small cute fat bird! There was a note attached to it, that said: _HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AKIRAI. -D

_"Who's D?" asked Hana-chan, then stared at me. "Why are you making such a funny face?"_

_"I can't decide if I want to laugh and cheer and cartwheel, or if I want to scream and curse him for not writing his full name!" I complained. It was so nice of him to give me such a cute and lovely prezzie, and it meant that he hasn't forgotten me! But if only he had written his full name, especially now that I have forgotten his name!_

_Hana-chan gave me a weird look. "Who?"_

_"An onii-san who taught me a lot of stuff and I forgot his name!" I wailed. "He's got blonde hair, darker than yours, and slanted blue eyes. And he's... One head plus taller than me?"_

_"Uh... I don't think I know him..." Hana-chan replied. Pity. Well I guess it's my fault for not remembering his name, but still...!_

_I enjoyed the rest of my birthday after that. And the bird whistle was really good too! I found two tiny holes of different sizes on its back and I could blow four different notes with them! I wondered how long he took to make the whistle... It must have been really hard to make. Then Hana-chan showed me how to make a grass whistle. I could get more notes out of it, but it had a different sound of course. And I still preferred the clay whistle._

_Then Hana-chan left that night, right after the birthday party, cuz her parents needed to go overseas for some mission and she was supposed to stay with her grandma. I didn't know why she couldn't have stayed with me. It would have been more fun, and we could train together, and my parents could look after the both of us. Besides, Otou-San know's Hana-chan's mother, right? They're good friends right? So her parents should trust us enough to let Hana-chan stay with us right? Hmph._

_Well, at least I got the whistle to keep me entertained after she left. I planned on finding the blonde onii-San and thanking him for the prezzie, but I reeeally didn't want to ask a random shinobi about him. I did, though, after hesitating and delaying it for a few days, and I finally made my search for him on my birthday itself._

_When I went to help Okaa-san look for a new lock for my bedroom door (Hana-chan had spoilt it when she grew moss and whatnot began to all over and into it... Cuz she saw a little speck of moss and thought she'd help it grow), I headed to the Kage building. I figured I'd be able to find at least one shinobi there and the shinobi could tell me what the blonde onii-san's name is and how I could find him._

_I was either very lucky or unlucky. The first shinobi I saw knew who I was talking about when I told him, "I'm looking for a guy around one head taller than me. Maybe around thirteen or fourteen years old? Blonde hair? Blue eyes? In the Explosion Corps? Likes clay and art and-"_

_"Him?" the shinobi exclaimed, then frowned at me. "Why are you looking for him?"_

_"Uh... I wanna thank him for not forgetting my birthday and thank him? Except that I've forgotten his name..."_

_"He's quite well-known for being so young yet powerful, you know. But... I don't think you should be looking for him now... This isn't quite a good time... Especially since..."_

_"Why not? He gave me a prezzie a few days ago. And I need to thank him."_

_"A present?! Is it made of clay?"_

_"Huh?" I was confused. The shinobi was confusing, and I suspect he was being confusing on purpose. "Yes, why?"_

_But then someone else called the shinobi away and I got a feeling he wanted to get away from answering my questions as fast as possible. So in the end... I didn't even get that blonde onii-san's name!_

_When I got home, I got a huge scolding cuz I forgot to find a new lock for my bedroom door. So Okaa-san went to get a locksmith herself, and grounded me! Of course I could still sneak out of the house if I... only knew how to pick a lock. And this was all Hana-chan's fault. Why? Not because she spoilt the lock, but because she grew a bloody thistle patch under my window and I couldn't escape through the window either! Blasting the lock or the door down wasn't an option, cuz the damage would be obvious. And blasting anything, even the thistle patch, would involve sound, which would alert my parents. If only I could create a silent explosion... Sigh._

_Later that day, my parents left the house for some business. I heard the main door close. And I was still stuck in my room! Just for forgetting to buy a lock! Well, I guess this isn't the first time I got distracted on an errand... But how am I supposed to restock my candy supply when I'm grounded? And how am I supposed to find that blonde onii-san?_

_All of a sudden, I heard an explosion. It didn't sound really near, but I was curious. Could that be onii-san or some other nin from the Explosion Corps? I stuck my head out of the window and saw another explosion. It was amazing, like fireworks._

_Taking advantage of the loud explosions, I made my own small ones and reduced the overgrown thistle patch under my window to dust. No one noticed the sound of my explosions when there were noisier ones made by someone else. Then I proceeded to climb out of the window._

_Once out of the house, I ran out onto the streets where some people were also gathered, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. It was a good thing I was still a small child and could slip through the crowd easily._

_I followed the sound of the explosions until I was out of the village. Luckily, I didn't bump into Okaa-san or Otou-san on the way. In fact, no one seemed to care that I was leaving the village. Everyone around me was doing the same, trying to get a better view of what was going on. But I'd be grounded forever if they knew what I was doing. And I soon found out how dangerous the whole situation was, when I found out why there were explosions erupting near the village._

_Brilliant explosions of light and fire, brighter than any I've ever seen before, flashing in the sky like shooting stars. There were shouts and screams, mostly drowned out by the sound of the explosions in the sky. Then I saw them. Okaa-san and Otou-san. They were quite far away-just two spots in a distance, amongst several other ninja, but I could easily recognize the wavy golden-brown hair of Otou-san and the spiky black hair of Okaa-san no matter how far away they are. My eyesight was one of the best around since I required it to perform the best pranks possible._

_The ninjas were chasing someone across the tall rocks that surrounded the village. But I couldn't tell if it was the enemy or them that waa making those explosions... But I should've see it coming. No one makes explosions as beautiful as... Him._

_Just as I saw them fall, small explosions erupting around them, just as I found myself screaming and struggling against the people holding me back, I saw the black, white and gold figure turn around to survey his handiwork. Black was the color of his clothes, white was the color of his clay, and gold was the color of his hair. I stared at him as another explosion erupted, lighting up the fiery sky. A glimpse of blue as our eyes met. Then he was gone._

_Angry shouts and cries fill the air as the shinobi escaped. Someone brought me home some time later and I fell asleep as soon as I crawled into bed. A funeral was held a few days later, then I was brought to the Tsuchikage as the will was read. One week later, my things were packed and a nin from Konoha came to fetch me. I left Iwa feeling nothing. After all, all that was left was a house and an empty house is not a home. Far from it._

_"Aki? Akirai?" I blinked and saw a girl standing at the gates of Konoha as we reached the village after a week of traveling. Pale blonde hair, almost white in the sun. Emerald green eyes, the color of new leaves. A small smile._

_"I'm Hanaha, remember?" she said again, her smile fading. Oh. Hana-chan._

_When she saw that I recognized her, she grinned again and before I knew it, she was hugging me. For a moment, my mind went blank, then kick-started again._

_"H-Hana-chan? Hana-chan?! You're wet!" I exclaimed, suddenly feeling quite bewildered as I felt cold water seep into my clothes and touch my shoulder. Hana-chan looked up, seemingly as bewildered as I am. Her face was wet._

_"H-H-Hana-chan! You're crying! Oh kami, don't cry! Why are you crying? Hana-chan is crying! What-Hana-chan?" I exclaimed when she burst into laughter, tears still streaming down her face. She was crying! Hana-chan didn't seem like the kind of girl to cry! And she was crying and now she's laughing? What's going on?_

_"Welcome to Konoha, Akirai! Your new home!" Hana-chan announced and flung her hands wide open. I stared at her, then at the shinobi still standing next to us, watching us with no expression. I stared at the village behind her, then back at her again. Then I grinned, the smile feeling slightly foreign but comfortable on my face after weeks of not using it._

_"Hana-chan? You're living here too?" I asked. She nodded._

_"Come, there's a cool candy shop I want you to see!" she replied. Candy? Why, I haven't had candy in long time!_

_"What are you waiting for? Lead the way!" I yelled gleefully and ran into the village, with her following closely behind. Then we found our way blocked by the shinobi who was with me. He seemed kinda amused for some reason._

_"Not so fast, girls. Ryuusei Akirai, I still need to bring you to the Hokage first. You can get your candy later," he said. So the three of us (Hana-chan tagged along) went to see the Hokage._

_Konoha looked quite different from Iwa. There were so many trees and the buildings looked different too. Somehow, the place seemed so much more vibrant than Iwa. Maybe it was the colors, but I think the atmosphere seemed slightly different too._

_"You seem to have gotten over it quite quickly," Hana-chan commented as we walked to the apartment I was going to share with her. Huh? I gave a blank look and she merely shook her head and sighed._

_"What?" I demanded._

_"Never mind," she laughed and we went on our merry way._

_I got used to life in Konoha. I joined the Academy soon after I arrived. Then Akuma-chan, whom I learnt was actually called Chizuki, came too. She nearly killed me after I said '-chan' for the third time. Many things happened. There was the Uchiha massacre. Then I heard of how the blond-onii-san returned to Iwa to bomb and destroy some of it's buildings. I learnt that the blonde-onii-san became a missing-nin because he stole a kinjutsu that allowed him to make his clay art explode._

_"I heard it gives him mouths on his hands, and he can mold clay in them," I told Hana-chan and Chii-kun. Just then, the mouth of a Venus flytrap snapped shut. We stared at the plant that looked as disgusted as a plant could be._

_"So he infuses chakra into the clay with those mouths?" Hana-chan asked with a frown._

_"I don't know. I think so," I replied. It was Chii-kun who gave me the idea of molding blood into my clay for the same effect. Not as effective, but it worked! I could use explosive clay too!_

_**You're not mad at him?**__ Yami-san, Chii-kun's demon asked as she licked one of my blood-clay creations._

_I thought about it. I was still sad that Okaa-san and Otou-San were gone. But I wasn't lonely. I had Chii-kun and Hana-chan around. Even Yami-san was friendly... Sometimes. But most importantly..._

_"You can't bring them back from the dead, can you?" I asked Yami-san. She stared at me owlishly. Then she frowned._

_**It is not impossible but near it. You can try... I don't think your parents will be very pleased with you though,**__ Yami replied, a grin slowly stretching across her face. It was how happy she looked that made me conclude that it would be a very bad idea to bring back the dead._

_"Well, if I can't change anything, what's the use of getting angry with him?" I asked. The demon shrugged._

**_Revenge?_**

_I pouted. "But the blonde onii-san was so nice to me!"_

_"You're just biased, aren't you?" asked Chii-kun. "I won't question your thinking though, since revenge is really a waste of time."_

_"You're too lazy," Hana-chan commented._

_"Says the person who sleeps ten hours a day," Chii-kun retorted._

_"Honestly though, this guy stole a kinjutsu, killed your parents, became a missing-nin, became a terrorist, and you still admire him?" Hana-chan asked. Okay, when she put it that way, it seemed like there was something seriously wrong with my mind. Evidently, it would seem like I like him better than I love my parents, which is not true. But..._

_"He's nice. End of story," I said irritably. Both Hana-chan and Chii-kun grunted like Uchihas (yea, hn all you like, you can't change my mind) and gave me a what-the-hell look._

_The topic was dropped after that. I still kept the whistle he secretly gave me at my birthday party. And I continued to make explosive clay creations, hoping that I could be as pro as him one day. And each time my blood-clay explodes beautifully, I remember my fateful birthday and the morbid birthday present I got._

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**Alright, that's all for now~ Coming right up the start of the final exam chapter! Please review and let me know what you think of my story so far~ ****_Ja_**


	27. Chapter 27: Discoveries

**Okay, so... this chapter is shorter than I had intended it to be but nevermind... I'll just try to make up for it by updating faster. My apologies for not writing more. Hope you like this one anyhow.**

**Disclaimer: How many times must I repeat this? Naruto ain't mine.**

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Chapter 18: Discoveries

_"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It had no survival value; rather it is one of those things that gives value to survival."_

Three days after Naruto and I came back from Jiraiya's training, he woke up. Finally, after seventy-two hours of deep-sleep/unconsciousness, he woke up. I guess it really wasn't his fault, cuz Jiraiya was being unhelpful and the chief toad had given Naruto quite a hard time. Still, I managed to do some stuff in these three days.

The first thing I did was to check on my teammates and update them on the Demon News as I now call it. The Demon News, staff consisting of an unaware host, a tanuki reporter and a fox lie-detector. Three annoying kittens were the ones who gave it such a name. I have yet to introduce them to my teammates though... All Hana-chan and Aki-chan know is that I have learnt how to summon some cats.

The only thing that really bothered me now was the plot. It didn't sound good and I hadn't managed to get Shukaku to spill it either. The tanuki was 'being difficult' and it may be because I haven't given it a lick of me yet. I did mean to give it to him in the end of course, but not now. The whole thing would be too troublesome to deal with. The mongrel will have to wait until I end up fighting Gaara before I can take the opportunity to let the demon have a lock discreetly. Shukaku, of course, doesn't like the instability of our deal, so he became increasingly reluctant to cooperate.

Following that, I continued to experiment with my paper skills. It turned out that my paper art pieces weren't completely unaffected by fire (or at least, Akirai's fire) after all. When set on fire, the creation would be ablaze and it's flames cannot be extinguished by normal means, though after half-an-hour, it would burn itself out, so my fire origami had a time limit to it's usage. Water does make it hard to control, and most of my origami pieces fail ten minutes after getting wet. Then I found out that other than shopping with Ino, chatting with Tenten and stalking everyone else (imagine my horror when I found out that one of my best friends became a stalker!) she did in fact do some training. Last time I sparred with her, my origami started growing leaves...

On the third day after Naruto was sent to the hospital, I was bored, so I went to the hospital to find Shikamaru who was supposed to be there visiting Choji (who hurt his stomach eating too much after his fight). I dropped by Naruto's room and found him awake at last. Shikamaru was there too.

Apparently, Shikamaru wanted to give a basket of fruits to Choji but the doctor didn't allow it, so Naruto and Shikamaru were going to eat it themselves, so as not to waste it. That was when I came in and Naruto suggested we eat in front of Choji to tease the poor boy.

So off to Choji's room we went, until Yami and I sensed Shukaku's killer intent. I quickly followed Gaara's chakra and Shukaku's excited chuckles and reached the room that Lee was in. Shikamaru and Naruto followed me, asking me why we were running, but they stopped as soon as we saw Gaara standing beside a sleeping Lee, sand swirling around them. Before Gaara could do any harm, Shikamaru trapped him with his shadow. Then the reckless Naruto ran into the room and punched Gaara. Both Gaara and Shikamaru, linked by their shadows, reeled a bit, and Gaara's sand armor cracked a bit before reforming itself.

Shikamaru and I scolded him for it. After Naruto apologized, we turned to Gaara.

"You... what are you up to?" Naruto demanded. Gaara didn't answer at first, and stared at us silently. I tried to ignore the discomfort of standing before his cold glare, and my annoyance at the three demons quarreling in my head.

_Kurama, Yami, Shukaku, this is my head. Shut up._

"Gaara... what were you trying to do to Green Monkey?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. I didn't think he'd answer me since he ignore Naruto, but perhaps he didn't want to be asked again any more times.

"I was trying to kill him," he growled. Bingo.

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed. I glanced back at them and saw Shikamaru frowning.

"Why is there a need to do that? You won the fight. Do you have a personal grudge against him?" he asked. Right, I forgot they had no idea what Gaara was really like. And actually, neither did I, though I had the bonus of being able to hear Shukaku's thoughts.

"I do not..." Gaara said in reply to Shikamaru's question. "I'm going to kill him just because I want to kill him."

I could tell my friends were stunned. Hmm... Neither of them were in Kiba's team, so they wouldn't have witnessed the slaughter of the foreign genins in the Forest of Death. At least they still seemed calm enough... No one was yelling or screaming yet... Damn it. That's right. Stay calm...

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! BASTARD!" Naruto suddenly shouted. Oh Kami.

Then Shikamaru spoke up too. "You must have had a messed up childhood. How self-centered can you be?"

Dear Shika, you have no idea.

"If you get in my way, I'll kill you too," Gaara simply replied. Shikamaru and I had to restrain Naruto from charging right towards Gaara in anger. Then Shikamaru tried to talk our way out.

"We know you're strong from your fight with him, but... we're not too bad ourselves either," Shikamaru began. I found myself nodding in agreement. Actually, it was Yami nodding in agreement. Do you know how weird is it trying to fight a demon for the control over my head movements?

"We didn't show all our 'special moves' in the prelims," he continued. My head continued to nod. Actually, that was quite true.

"Plus it's three on one, you're at a disadvantage." Uh... no. It's five on two, counting the three demons.

"If you listen to what we say, we'll let you leave quietly," Shikamaru finished.

**Shukaku, you are under arrest,** Yami joked and the tanuki snarled. Now why was she annoying the demon further? Right, because she could, forgetting that the rest of us here are just innocent mortals.

"I'll say it again... Get in my way and I'll kill you," Gaara replied.

"I won't be killed by the likes of you!" Naruto shouted back at him.

"I told you to stop it! His strength is like a monster! Don't you understand that?" Shikamaru hissed at Naruto. I felt my face twitch as Shukaku chuckled.

"I have a real monster in me! I won't lose to the likes of him," Naruto replied, and this time, Kurama chuckled. I think a vein must have showed itself on my forehead by now.

"A monster eh? Then... it's the same for me," Gaara said. "As you said, I had a messed up childhood. I was born into this world by taking the life of the woman I would have called my mother. To become the ultimate shinobi... With my father attaching the incarnation of sand upon me through ninjutsu... I was born a monster."

"Called Shukaku, it was sealed within a kettle," Gaara continued on one of the longest speech I've ever heard him say before. "It's the living spirit of an old Hidden Sand priest."

_Kettle? Hidden Sand priest? Shukaku?_

"A possession jutsu that allows one to be possessed before birth... To go that far... That's crazy," remarked Shikamaru, fear lacing his words. And he doesn't know that he's the only non-jinchuriki in the room at the moment (Lee not counted since he's asleep).

"Heh. That's what a parent does? What a strange expression of love," Shikamaru commented. Oh no... What kind of conversation was this going to lead to?

"Love? Don't judge me with your measuring stick. Family... Do you want to know what kind of connection that is to me?" Gaara said. "It's simply pieces of meat, connected to me with murderous intent and hatred. By sacrificing my mother's life, I was created as the village's greatest masterpiece... As the Kazekage's son... my father taught me the shinobi secrets... I was spoiled and allowed to do as I pleased. I though that was love... Until that incident happened."

"What incident?" Naruto asked. Oh Naruto... Why must you bring that incident up?

Gaara smirked. Well, smiled in a crazy and creepy way. "Since I was seven years old to now... My father has tried countless of times to assassinate me!"

"Huh? But you just said your father spoiled you! What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked. I cut in before Gaara could answer. I think my silence until then may have led them to forget my presence because Naruto and Shikamaru jumped a little at my voice.

"He was spoiled because the village feared him. At the same time, because the village must have realized that they couldn't control their 'ultimate shinobi', they decided he was too dangerous and tried to get rid of him. It's as simple as that. And since he so happened to be the Kazekage's son, it's his father's responsibility to keep the village safe. So his father tried to have him killed," I said. Silence greeted my words and I frowned.

"What? Did I forget something? Oh yeah, I think that's a demon sealed into you. Not some priest spirit. I doubt priests are that dangerous," I added. More silence.

**I don't think that was the best time to say such a thing,** Yami commented. **But I must say, tanuki-bastard, since when were you a religious servant?**

"You are right," Gaara finally said and stared at me so intently I thought I was going to spontaneously combust. "To them, I was simply an object of a past they wished would disappear. Then why do I exist? Why am I alive? When I though about this... I could find no answer. But as you live, you need a reason... Otherwise it's as good as being dead."

Shikamaru stared at Gaara uncomprehendingly, though I have a feeling Naruto understood it as perfectly as I did. Gaara went on talking.

"Then I came to this conclusion: I exist to kill every human besides myself. I finally found relief within the fear of death, of never knowing when someone would try to assassinate me. By continually killing the assassins, I understood the reason to continue living. Fighting for only yourself, living while only loving yourself. If you think that everyone else simply exists to allow you to experience that feeling, nothing is better than that world. As long as there are people in this world for me to kill and continue to feel that joy of living, my existence will not vanish."

I blinked several times after hearing that long speech. It was full of warped logic and twisted reasoning. And it was all because he was alone. Naruto had Iruka-sensei followed by many others after that. I had Yami, then Akirai, Hanaha, Gaara and Naruto... But Gaara only had a selfish sonofabitch, and... Wait. I was there, dammit. I was there. Did he forget about me already? I heard Shukaku laugh at that, followed by a rant from Yami about how ungrateful Gaara was.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Shikamaru's voice broke into my thoughts. I turned to see Naruto shaking... Then sand shot out towards us.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" roared someone and the door slammed fully opened. Green Monkey Senior strode in.

"The finals are tomorrow... Don't get so antsy. Or do you want to stay here starting today?" the jounin said, combating our attention. Our eyes snapped back to Gaara when he grunted and clutched his head. Sand swirled back into his gourd as he slowly walked past us. I frowned at Shukaku's growling.

"I'll definitely kill you guys... Just wait," Gaara said as he left.

Shikamaru, Naruto and I followed suit and headed off to find Choji as we initially wanted to. Ino was there with Choji and we sat around. Shikamaru and Naruto were still silent and Ino and Choji were staring at us curiously. I introduced my head to the side of Choji's bed. Everyone was startled by the smacking sound.

"Chii-kun?" Ino asked. I groaned.

"He erased me!" I whined. "How in the world did that happen?"

"Who erased you?" Choji asked, bewildered. "Erased from what?"

Then Akirai burst into the room. "Ne~ Chii-kun! I saw your Desert Boy walking out of the hospital just now! What happened?"

"Uh... Why do you automatically assume that I would know why he's in the hospital?" I asked, still leaning the side of my head on Choji's bed.

"Desert boy?" Ino sounded very curious.

"Yeah, you know, red hair, big gourd of sand on his back, the kanji 'love' on his forehead," Aki-chan supplied enthusiastically. Too enthusiastically.

"I thought you were angry with him for-"

"Shut up! Just when I was getting over that! Do you know he killed that sound dude? What's his name? The guy that's supposed to play with me in the final exam tomorrow?"

"Oh. Dosu. You suck at names don't you?"

"Dosu. What's the use of remembering his name when he's dead?! Now I have no one to play with! And just when I spent more than three weeks dreaming up fabulous ways to play with him!" wailed Aki-chan, who loved drama. "You had better hope I don't run into that Desert Boy of yours again! Or he'll wish-"

"First of all, his name is Gaara. He's not dead yet, so remember it. Second of all, I'd rather if you do not kill him, if you can," I interrupted. "Third of all, this is a hospital. Don't make such a ruckus in here. Fourth, Gaara just tried to kill the Lee. Tried. He was interrupted and stopped. So I think we've had enough excitement for the day without you-"

"HE TRIED TO KILL GREEN MON-Mmph?!" yelled Akirai and got smothered by some thick vines that had just shot in through the window. Hanaha entered the room a second later.

"So, Gaara forgot about your existence?" she said conversationally. As if there wasn't a green bundle of vines suffocating a struggling girl beside her. I groaned again. Why are my friends so weird?

"Were you outside eavesdropping the whole time?" Ino asked while staring at the green wriggling bundle on the floor. Aki-chan could no longer be seen.

"I just so happened to overhear the conversation. That's all," Hana-chan said with a deceiving polite smile. "And I think I shall treat Chii to some ramen in consolation for her favorite person forgetting her. It's lunchtime after all."

"Hey, what about me?!" exclaimed Akirai as she tried to untangle herself from a mess of half-burnt vines. Hana-chan did not look pleased at the state of the plants.

"Pay for yourself," Hanaha replied irritably. "Ino, Shika, Naru, are you guys coming along? Sorry Choji, maybe next time."

"Sure," Shikamaru agreed along with the rest, then he frowned at me. "Before that... What's your relationship with Gaara?"

"I met him when I was seven or eight, before I came to Konoha. Spent months there with him in Suna. We were friends, until... his uncle tried to kill him," I muttered. "I arrived too late. He was mentally scarred by the emcounter, and had carved the kanji of love on his forehead. He attacked me when he saw me and left. I left the village the next day."

Six faces stared at me. Ino and Choji looked clueless, since they didn't encounter Gaara earlier and may not understand the context of this. Shikamaru and Naruto looked shocked. Akirai and Hanaha looked the most unperturbed by this news because I've told them something of the sort before.

We went to eat ramen after that, and an awkward atmosphere hung over the meal though Akirai managed to add some relief to the tension in the air with her usual antics. Unfortunately Naruto did not accompany her as he had been in a serious mood ever since we met Gaara earlier.

The next day, Aki-chan, Hana-chan and I arrived at the battle arena just on time. Naruto came a little late (being chased by a horde of angry bulls) and Sasuke didn't seem to turn up at all. Unsurprisingly, Dosu wasn't there either. The proctor seemed to have changed from Gekkou Hayate to someone called Shiranui Genma.

We spent a long time waiting for the match to start. Meanwhile, we were just standing in the arena watching the spectators watch us. Aki-chan wasn't very patient and kept fidgeting. Then I finally realized what we were waiting for: the Kazekage's arrival.

**I don't like that guy,**Yami commented. I stared at the Kazekage. I didn't like him either, and neither did Shukaku. But I couldn't fathom why Yami would dislike the Kazekage. She seemed neutral to him when we were in Suna years ago.

_Why? He doesn't smell good or what? _

**He smells... weird... cold.. And familiar...**Yami sounded disgusted. I ignored her lack of appetite, because I was used to her strange food commentary. Then the time we had all been waiting for came. The Hokage spoke.

"Thank you everyone for coming to... The Hidden Leaf Chuunin Selection Exam!"

My heart pounded faster. I glanced at my teammates. Hanaha was smirking. Akirai was grinning. Anticipation filled the air with humming energy.

"We will now start the tournament matches between the 11 participants who made it through the preliminaries," the Hokage continued. "Please stay and watch until the end!"

Then Genma turned to face us. He held up a sheet of paper with our tournament match assignations on it.

"There is something I'd like to tell you before the matches," he said. "Look at this. There has been some minor changes to the tournament. Check once again to see who you're fighting."

We looked. Dosu's name was missing from the listings. Aki-chan was going to have to fight whoever wins the Temari-Shikamaru match. Everyone who didn't know that Dosu had been killed gasped.

"Hey," Naruto suddenly said. "Sasuke isn't here yet. What are you going to do?"

"If he isn't here by the time of his match, he'll receive a default loss," Genma replied. Huh. I bet the Uchiha wouldn't want that. Wonder why he's late...

"I'll kill Kakashi if he's the reason for Uchiha's lost match," Hanaha said with a pleasant smile. The smile a snake smiles before strangling it's prey.

"Alright guys, this is the final test," said Genma. "The arena is different but the rules are the same as the ones in the prelims. You fight until one of you dies or acknowledges defeat. But if I determine that the fight is over, I will step in and stop it. You got that?"

We nodded.

"Now the first fight... Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Negi. Those two stay here while the rest of you go to the waiting room."

We headed up to the waiting area, leaving Naruto and Neji down there at the ground floor of the arena. They faced each other.

"Looks like you've got something to say," Neji said with a cocky smirk. Naruto merely raised up a fist in a gesture similar to the one he made in the prelims after Hinata's match.

"I've told you before... You're definitely going down!" Naruto declared. I smiled at the confidence and determination that he exuded. Heh, Neji may be strong, but Naruto can be stronger when he needs to be.

Genma waved his hands downwards. "Now, the first fight... Begin!"

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**So, how was the chapter? Like it? Don't like it? Please review~ Next chapter will probably be up next week or so... And btw, does anyone have any suggestions for a better summary cuz now that I have reread it, it sounds kinda lame.**


	28. Chapter 28: The Final Exams

**Alright, here's another chapter for you guys~ Thanks to all those who reviewed! Hope you guys like this one... though it seems a bit of a 'crammed-rush' to me... Aaand for some reason or other... my chapters seem to be getting shorter... T_T****  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto... how could I?**

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Chapter 19: The Final Exams

_"In a battle, all you need to make you fight is a little hot blood and the knowledge that it is more dangerous to lose than to win." _

The match between Naruto and Neji started with the two of them surveying the other. Then Naruto did what I now deem as his signature move: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

Five Narutos and Neji faced off. Then they charged at began to attack Neji with kunais, kicks and punches. Neji, being the strong genin that he was, was able to evade most of their attacks with his agility, using his spinning defense to deflect other attacks, and counterattacking with his Gentle Fist. Then he gave a speech about fate, much to our annoyance, and of course, an argument started when he taunted Naruto about his Hokage dream. There was one interesting and true comment he made though: The only destiny everyone shares is Death.

Then Naruto, pissed off at Neji's insults and fixed-fate-mindset, made many many more shadow clones, easily twenty or more. All of the Narutos began to attack Neji at once, though try as they might, not many managed to land a hit. I noticed that one of them hung back when the others attacked. Neji noticed it too... But Naruto couldn't be that stupid... Could he?

Neji, who thought that the one who hung back was the real Naruto, attacked the boy who spat out blood when he got hit. For a moment, he fooled us all, and he later disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing himself as a mere shadow clone. Haha Neji, Naruto isn't as dumb as most people think he is.

Nevi's face was priceless, and I heard Kiba cheer very loudly for Naruto. So did Aki-chan who whooped and started calling Neji names in her usual childish and immature way. We watched eagerly as the Naruto continued to attack Neji with his one remaining clone. Unfortunately, Neji made this partial sphere of chakra with some Hyuuga spinning technique and sent Naruto and his shadow clone flying. The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke seconds later.

It's the heavily spin, Kaiten, Yami explained. White-kun released a great amount of chakra from his chakra points that blocked Kyuubi-kun's attacks, before spinning and creating that sphere which blasted Kyuubi-kun away. He must have learnt it himself since it's a technique that's only passed down through the main family. It's almost as good as the Tanuki brat's 'ultimate defense'.

Then Neji went into some Gentle Fist stance, saying, "Gentle Fist style, 64 hands of Hakke."

Following that, he attacked. His speed was quick and his attacks fast, lightning jabs hitting the chakra points of Naruto's body. When all '64 hands' were done, Naruto was left lying on the ground. Yami commented that this was another technique that he must have learnt by himself because once again, the powerful technique was supposed to be a main family technique.

As Neji went on and talked about how fate cannot be changed (again), Naruto struggled to stand even when he shouldn't be able to. And when he did, I bet everyone was shocked. I could feel Akirai and Hanaha radiate approval from behind me though.

"Heh, I told you I'm not good at giving up," said Naruto when he stood up shakily. I wasn't too worried about him, not like how it was with Hinata and Lee, because I knew Naruto wouldn't be dying anytime soon. His will and the Kyuubi wouldn't let him.

When Neji told Naruto to quit fighting because he didn't have a grudge against Naruto, little did he expect his words to be countered so violently. He should've known of course. But he must have forgotten how much his match with Hinata had affected Naruto. Well, he soon found out when Naruto started lecturing him and insulting him. I believe his words were, "I will never forgive pieces of shit like you who call other people losers!"

That led Neji to go into the history of the Hyuuga and the conflicts within the clan, the tension between the main family and the branch family, the caged bird cursed seal which only disappears in death, the kidnapping incident of Hinata and the murder of his father because his father replaced Hinata's father (they were twin brothers) in a ransom of sorts due to the Cloud's want for the Byakugan.

It was a tragic tale. No wonder Neji turned out like that. It was unfortunate that there weren't many with Naruto's spirit around. It wasn't like Naruto's life was a bed of daisies (roses have thorns, as I have been constantly reminded). Far from it in fact. And yet... His strength, spirit and will are definitely admirable. I wondered how many can really see that. All one had to do was to compare his life with any other tragic person around.

Now, our trio... That was a different matter altogether. Akirai's story was just plain crazy. Who continues to idolize the very person who kills her parents? I sometimes question what goes on in her head. And Hanaha. Well, her parent's murderers were dead, so there was nothing to say about that. No need for revenge and other crap. As for me? I'd count myself pretty lucky actually. I've got a home, a family (albeit not related by blood), plenty of friends... I barely knew my father when he died, so I wouldn't really count that as a loss. Iruka-sensei more than filled that role. I had no need for a 'mother' that never wanted me to exist. I was better off without her. And Yami has provided for me countless of times now. Hell, I think I'm one of the most fortunate jinchuriki around!

So, back to Naruto and Neji. I can only hope that Naruto manages to beat some sense into the Hyuuga. No matter how much Neji attacked him, he'd stand up again and again. He doesn't go back on his word after all... It's his nindo. And perhaps it was all well, for I'm sure everyone's watching him now and here was his chance to prove himself.

"You can never understand what it's like to be burdened with a symbol you can never rid yourself off!" Neji yelled at Naruto when Naruto scolded him once more for his fate and destiny crap. I heard a sound of indignation from Akirai, a snort from Hanaha and three more snorts from three demons. Seriously Neji? You don't know what talking about.

"I can... And... So what?" asked Naruto, still shaking from exhaustion. "Pfft... Stop acting cool... You're not the only one who's special."

"Damn straight yeah!" exclaimed Aki-chan, waving her fist at the Hyuuga who ignored her. We all did. Naruto went on to comment on Hinata's struggles, her fight with Neji and how he was trying to defy his 'destiny' as well. Hypocrite.

But then Naruto began to cough blood because his chakra points were all blocked and Neji mocked his uselessness to which Naruto said that he'd prove him wrong by defeating him. The only problem was that he wouldn't be able to use chakra... Not his own at least. And it was clear that Jiraiya had taught him how to somehow excess Kurama's power during the summoning training... Although judging from Kurama's grumbling, he didn't have free access to it yet.

Then chakra started to swirl and build up, whipping up a wind around Naruto's body. The chakra signature was obvious. I could see that Neji and some of the audience, including the Hokage, were shocked. The Kyuubi has made himself known.

With the Kyuubi's chakra wrapped around himself, Naruto darted towered Neji and began to attack again. Neji did his Kaiten again. Shrunken were thrown everywhere and somehow, Naruto managed to dodge them all as his speed increased thanks to Kurama's power. Finally, with a massive surge of chakra, Naruto charged towards Neji.

"I don't know about this Hyuuga destiny of hatred or whatever... But if it's too much for you, then you don't need to do anything anymore!" Naruto yelled as his chakra met with Neji's half-performed Kaiten. "When I become Hokage... I'LL CHANGE THE HYUUGA!"

There was a resolving explosion and for a moment, no one could see anything. Then two flashes shot out from the smoke and crashed into the floor on either side of the arena. When the smoke cleared, two holes in the floor could be seen, made by the descent of the two genins.

Neji crawled out of his hole first, coughing. There was silence as everyone stared at the other hole where Naruto could be seen lying there, seemingly unconscious. For a moment, it looked like Neji had won. I heard a low growl as Neji called Naruto a 'loser'... Then realized that the growl had come from me.

Before I could do anything to express my anger at the Hyuuga, there was a loud sound of something breaking as Naruto burst out of the ground below Neji and punched the Hyuuga in the jaw, sending him soaring upwards, spitting blood as he went. Neji landed on the ground not too far away and didn't seem to be able to get up after that. The body lying in the hole that Naruto made turned out to be a clone as it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Then Naruto went up to Neji who was still lying on the ground, and told him about how he failed the genin exams three times and that his weakest ninjutsu was actually the Bunshin. He told Neji not to crap about destiny and the like because Neji wasn't a 'loser' like him. Then Genma announced, "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!" and the match ended.

There were a lot of clapping and cheering afterwards. Sakura shouted "Yay! Naruto won!", some others said stuff like "Great fight, shrimp." and "That was incredible!" Akirai and I were yelling at the same time so none of our words could really be heard. I think that was a momentous occasion for Naruto. He may not be Hokage yet, but there were many people already acknowledging him. The elated Uzumaki then displayed his stamina by running around the arena, blowing kisses and the like, basking in his momentary limelight.

Many of us were surprised that he won, including Shikamaru. The joining were probably quite surprised at Naruto's control over the Kyuubi's chakra too. Well, after Naruto won, my anger at the Hyuuga evaporated and I started feeling a little sorry for him... But I didn't have much time to think about Neji's plight as a branch family member. The system was kinda idiotic I think, but maybe I just don't understand how clans, precious bloodline limits and politics worked.

In any case, the next match soon started. Gaara and Sasuke were supposed to fight in this match but the Uchiha had yet to arrive, and since the audience wanted to watch the match so badly, they couldn't just give Gaara a walkover, so the match was postponed... The two Kages and the proctors took quite some time in deciding not to let the missing Sasuke forfeit his match. And my match with Kankuro was pushed forward.

...

The audience weren't very pleased about having to wait for Sasuke's match with Gaara, and they weren't very pleased that they had to watch Temari's match with Shikamaru either. Well, their match wasn't exactly bad. In fact, I think they gave us quite some entertainment, because of Temari's powerful wind techniques and Shikamaru's genius brain. They certainly gave us more to watch than an idiot who forfeited before the match even started. It was all fine for me, because that meant that I wouldn't have to use any of my origami skills nor my shadow demon skills. Shikamaru was quite envious since I basically won the match without having to fight, but despite feeling relieved at not having to fight, I felt a little uncomfortable too... Something wasn't right. Why would Kankuro forfeit his match so easily? Did it have anything to do with the modifications of his puppet... Or the plot that Shukaku mentioned but did not elaborate on?

As for Shikamaru's match, it started with Temari riding the wind on her fan (it was quite cool) and Shikamaru getting pushed over the railings of the balcony we were on by Naruto. Though Shikamaru was reluctant to fight, he did put up a good show because he didn't want to lose to a girl. So his match involved him hiding from Temari's great wind techniques, Temari avoiding Shikamaru's stretching shadow, Shilamaru going into his 'thinking pose', using a parachuting kunai to drive Temari towards the hole Naruto made during his match, using the setting sun's shadow to stretch his shadow further, and finally trapping Temari by letting his shadow to go into the other hole Naruto made when attacking Neji, making use of the darkness underground to stretch his shadow which came out from the hole behind Temari and attached itself to Temari's shadow. Complicated? This was the result of a lazy-ass using his IQ level of 200 (or maybe even higher).

I guess the 'best' part of his interesting match was the very last part, after he trapped Temari with his shadow. I don't think anyone expected him to forfeit that very moment, when he was so near victory. Naruto and Akirai made a lot of noise when they saw and heard what Shikamaru did. It seemed like quite a waste, until Hanaha explained to us that he probably ran out of chakra and the wisest choice was probably to forfeit. She also commented that since the Hokage did say that winning or losing in the match doesn't necessarily determine if one gets the Chuunin status, Shikamaru might actually become a Chuunin because of the intellect and strategy he displayed, for the leader of a squad must know when to quit depending on the situation, instead of stubbornly forging ahead and getting everyone killed.

Well, I suppose Shikamaru was actually quite smart in forfeiting... Since if he didn't, if he actually managed to Temari, he'd have to face Aki-chan in the next match. Troublesome much?Personally, I don't think it's a very good way of arranging the matches. Temari would be tired out from her match with Shikamaru, so it wouldn't be fair for her to go against an energy-filled Akirai who was itching for a fight. Of course, it'd be hardly fair for Aki-chan to win the match without fighting... Though we could just take it as a forfeit by Dosu or a walkover since Dosu had to go and get himself killed before the matches... Still, whatever the proctors say goes.

... Akirai's POV...

I was going to play with Tema-chan! How awesome is that?! It's a pity she's all tired from Shika-kun's match, so she won't be able to play as well as she should... Better than playing with Shika-kun though... He's always so boring! I want to win a match because I won a match, not because the other player quits!

Anyway... Genma-san gave Tema-chan a five minutes break, then he called us into the arena. Tema-chan was strong... She didn't show any sign of fatigue when she faced me... Maybe she's just acting, but even that must be quite a feat after that match with Shika-kun.

Then the match started. I charged my feet with lightning chakra and dashed towards Tema-chan. Then Tema-chan did her Ninpou Kamaitachi and knocked me off my feet. The wind storm sent me flying to the other end of the arena and I did a somersault and kicked off the wall to dart towards Tema-chan again. Meh... I should have seen that coming.. That was so embarrassing...

Tema-chan had a smirk on her face. She wasn't as good as the Emo Uchiha or Chii-kun with the smirking... And she probably thought I'm a lightning user, so she had the upper hand with wind? Ha! I will prove her wrong! I've got explosion and fire up my sleeves too, so don't underestimate me, Tema-chan!

I used lightning again to charge up the air around us until the white-blue electricity could be seen crackling in the air, sounding like whip-cracks. Tema-chan dispelled most of the electric charges with a sweep of her fan, but while she still has bright spots in her vision, caused by the bright light of the electricity (I know this because that's what Chii-kun complained to me when I tried this on her), I ran as fast as I could, avoiding the blasts of wind and going behind her.

Tema-chan was good. She recovered fast, spun and swept her fan to attack me as I tried to ambush her from behind. Being caught in a cyclone is not fun. The wind was strong and sharp. I made several clay birds and released them before making them explode around me. They were miniature explosions that did not harm me, but it disrupted the flow of air and the cyclone released me, sending me plummeting to the ground.

I charged myself with with electricity as I fell, and angled myself to descend faster. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I ran as fast as I could towards Tema-chan. Tema-chan is fast. I am faster. She tried to catch me in her Kamaitachi again, but I outran her wind. I had to dart about and run in irregular patterns to avoid her attacks which are so big-scaled that it used up a lot of my chakra to outrun it. Thank Kami for my stamina and my training, though I was nowhere as good as Lee-kun without lightning chakra to help me. Lee-kun without weights is like me with my lightning.

I ran along the edge of the arena, then decided that clones would be good. Since I was already using lightning to help myself go faster, it wasn't hard to make myself run so fast that I was momentarily near-invisible with lightning chakra at my feet, leaving behind a Raiton Kage Bunshin who was running at my original pace. This was so that Tema-chan would continue to focus on the lightning clone instead of me.

At last, I got behind her. I wasn't going to electrocute Tema-chan... Well, not really. After I watched Neji-san's match, I thought of the Gentle Fist and the raining needles incident in the Forest of Death, and finally thought of the first out-of-village mission we had with Team 7. By the time I was directly behind Tema-chan, her wind had caught up with my clone which dispersed in a burst of electricity. Tema-chan was so shocked, especially after I blew at her neck from behind her (I reeaally couldn't resist).

Tema-chan jumped a little, as if she had encountered a ghost. She was going to spin around and club me with her fan when I stuck a needle into her neck and sent a very small charge of electricity that streamed into her nervous system and paralysed her. She twitched a little then froze before collapsing.

"Alright! Genma-san! I've won right?" I yelled happily, waving a hand in the air to get his attention. Genma-san approached us and stared at Tema-chan for a moment. She did not move.

"Well then, I suppose you did," he said. "Winner: Akirai!"

Still no family name mentioned eh? Never mind~ It does not matter. I won the match and Tema-chan had been relatively fun to play with... Not as fun as Chii-kun and Hana-chan though.

I removed the needle from Tema-chan's neck just as the medics arrived, and she twitched a little before suddenly sitting up with a jerk. She looked very shocked.

"Temari-san, gomenasai but I won the match. Let's play again next time, okay?" I said to her and stuck out a hand. She stared at my hand for a while before accepting it and I pulled her up.

"See? She's alright," I told the medics. "So you guys can go back and wait for the next casualty."

Then I dragged a still-shocked Tema-chan up the steps to the balcony where the rest of my team and her team waited. I saw Chii-kun staring at me with a smirk that only she could manage, and Hana-chan who had an eyebrow raised.

"Hana-chan! Chii-kun! I won!" I yelled to them. "But Tema-ch-I mean, Temari-san was a very good player! Shika-kun, it's all your fault that Temari-san was tired from your match! We could have more fun playing if that had been her first match!"

"Maybe you should return poor Temari to her siblings," Hana-chan suggested, so I brought Tema-chan to Kankuro.

"Ne, Kankuro, please look after your sister, 'kay? Cuz I wanna play with her again and if you let her get so injured that she can never play with me again... I will destroy your doll, electrocute you, then blast you into a billion invisible pieces," I said to Kankuro with my nicest cheerful smile, then I walked back to my teammates.

"You're getting pretty good at threat-giving," Chii-kun said with her I'm-proud-of-you smile. Hana-chan just sighed. "Was all of that really necessary?"

But then she was smiling too. Then she asked me why didn't I use fire when fire is very effective with wind. I told her I wanted to keep it for my next match. Then we noticed a change in the atmosphere as everyone seemed to become very excited. When we looked down at the arena, we saw Kakashi-sensei and Emo Uchiha standing in the middle of swirling leaves.

Late as usual.

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**That's all for now! Please review~! Another update in one or two weeks time~!**


	29. Chapter 29: Leaf VS Sound

**Meh... Another chapter is up... But I don't think it's any good. I can't seem to find my usual writing style in it. Ah well, hope you guys like this ****chapter more than I did.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

* * *

Chapter 20: Leaf VS Sand

Kakashi and Sasuke stood back to back as the swirling leaves around them cleared. Really. What a dramatic entrance they had to have after being late and all. I supposed they looked cool, and I bet the Uchiha's Canfield will be swooning right now... But was that really necessary?! And Kakashi really shouldn't teach Sasuke his lateness...

"Sorry, we're late," Kakashi said with a sheepish smile. Well, his eye smiled anyway.

"Your name?" Genma asked with a smirk that could either be saying 'I'm impressed' or 'This is amusing.' I'm guessing it's the latter.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke replied. His looked so dark and serious, I was surprised he didn't growl out that reply.

"Hah! How late can you be?" Naruto shouted down at the Uchiha with a grin. "I was beginning to think that you weren't showing up cuz you were too afraid to fight me!"

"Heh... Don't get too worked up... You moron," Sasuke replied, his serious face breaking into his trademark cocky smirk. Cocky huh? Like a rooster... Hm...

"See...? He came..." I heard Gaara tell his teammates. What? Did they think he killed Sasuke? Well, that's actually a possibility now that I think about it...

"Judging from your excitement... You've won your first round?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto laughed. "Of course."

I think Kakashi's smile got wider, though it was hard to tell what with three-quarters of his face covered... Then he spoke to the proctor. "Well, we showed up all flashy and the like but... Could Sasuke have been disqualified?"

"Geez... Your tardiness must be contagious..." Genma commented. I totally agree!

"So what is it?"

"Don't worry... We pushed Sasuke's fight right till the end," Genma reassured them. "He hasn't been disqualified."

"Lucky bastard..." Aki-chan muttered beside me. "Why does his match get all the attention? Everyone's getting excited now... And can you feel this atmosphere?"

"It's remarkably heavy and tense," Hana-chan commented casually from the other side of Aki-chan. Sasuke and Gaara had locked eyes and yes, the tension was building. The two of them clearly are itching to fight each other. I just hoped Gaara wouldn't get too injured... Nor would he injure Sasuke too much...

"Don't lose to a guy like that," I heard Naruto say. Hmm?

"Sasuke!" He suddenly yelled, catching even the Uchiha by surprise. Hey, that look on Sasuke's face! It's so rare, it's-SNAP! Oh good. Akirai has taken a pic of it.

"I want to fight with you too!" Naruto declared. Seriously... Boys and their weird ways of motivating each other... Wait. I think Akirai may be like that too...

"Kyaaaah! Sasuke-kun!" Ino finally squealed out in a burst of fangirlism.

"Hey! Is that the Uchiha prodigy?" someone in the audience said.

"The Uchiha fight is about to start!" said another. Sheesh... Now I-

"... Need to strangle someone..." Akirai growled... Finishing the sentence in my head. Hanaha snorted.

"Strangle the Desert Boy and Chii will probably kill you. Strangle the Uchiha and... My hands will probably say hello to your neck."

I gave her a strange look that she ignored. Then Aki-chan tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "Kankuro just whispered something about a plan to Desert Boy. Think it's gonna happen soon?"

I glanced over to Gaara who had started walking to the stairs. I didn't miss the bloodlust on his face. _Shukaku! _

**... Yes?**Shukaku sounded irritated.

_I need you to answer just one question._

**Make it quick. I've got an Uchiha to taste...**

_You bloody bloodaholic! Alright. The plot that you told me about... Is it going to happen after your fight with the Uchiha? Yes or no?_

**Probably... No. **I could almost hear the smirk in his voice... And this could only mean one thing. I turned to my teammates. "Guys... We'd better be prepared. From what the mongrel told me, I'm guessing that whatever Suna is planning will happen during Sasuke's fight."

"What?" Aki-chan hissed. "They wait so long to watch this fight and they're just gonna interrupt it like that?"

"I don't think it's intentional..." I murmured. From what little Shukaku had said, it sounded like the plan may be moved forward because of his bloodlust. That didn't quite make sense in my head, unless the plan involves Shukaku going on a rampage... Which I doubt that they wanted, no matter what dastardly plot they have. Someone should warn the Hokage, I thought. But who? And he's sitting right next to the Kazekage!

As soon as the match started, sand shot out from Gaara's gourd and Sasuke leapt backwards to avoid it. Then Gaara grunted and clutched his head in pain and I watched on worriedly. Damn Shukaku and his-

That was when I heard him murmur something along the lines of "Don't get angry... Mother."

I choked and Hanaha thumped my back bemusedly. Mother? Shukaku?

"What is it?" Akirai asked.

"Did you hear what he just said?" I asked her.

"What...? Something about not getting angry?" both Aki-chan and Hana-chan asked. I shook my head and returned my attention back to the match. My attention was soon diverted again when I heard Kankuro comment that it was getting bad because 'conversation' has begun. I assumed he was referring to Gaara and Shukaku.

Speaking of conversation... Yami has been abnormally silent lately. I can feel her concentration though... It's as if she's thinking really hard about something.

Gaara's painful 'mental' episode passed and he finally relaxed a bit. Then he said one word to Sasuke. "Come."

...

The match began proper as Sasuke shot shuriken at Gaara. The sand blocked all the incoming weapons. Then the shield of sand turned into a rough sand clone that moved to attack Sasuke. Meanwhile, Gaara merely stood behind the sand clone, watching stoically with his arms folded across his chest.

Sasuke went to attack Gaara from almost all angles, but the clone blocked them all. There was once when he nearly reached Gaara and the clone tried to Coffin his leg but he kicked the sand apart. Sasuke's movements got faster and we saw blurs of attacks and bursts of sand here and there. There was another moment when the sand caught his hand and he used his other hand to disperse the sand.

The clone got dispersed, and just as Sasuke dashed towards Gaara with a fist raised, the sand shield shot up between his fist and Gaara... Then with a burst of speed and the pivoting of his foot, Sasuke was behind Gaara... And somehow, his movements reminded me of Lee's. Gaara turned too late and Sasuke's fist met Gaara's jaw.

"So that's the armor of sand, eh?" Sasuke commented as Gaara's face appeared to crack. Then he flicked his hand in a beckoning gesture. "Come on."

Way to go, Uchiha. You just had to taunt an unstable jinchuriki and his demon. I could hear Shukaku's furious growls echoing in my head.

For the next few moments of the fight, the Uchiha displayed his speed as he darted around Gaara, avoiding the attacking sand and attacking faster than sand's defense. He managed to contact Gaara another time. His kick sent Gaara crashing into the nearest wall.

"What's wrong? Is that it?" the Uchiha mocked. I turned to Hanaha.

"Remind me again why I shouldn't try and kick that Chicken-ass's ass?"

"I get to kick his ass first," Hana-chan replied. "Then you can go ahead."

Hmm... I continued watching the fight and saw Sasuke speed up. He was as fast as Lee as he sped around Gaara. Then he manage to bypass the sand another time and kicked Gaara in the jaw again. I must admit, he seems to be able to pull off Lee's moves quite well, and Gaara certainly needs a few good attacks to wake him up. He really shouldn't let Shukaku do all the work.. And he relies on his sand defense too much.

All of a sudden, Gaara made a hand-sign and sand began to surround him like it did on the day it rained needles. Well, technically, that was one of the best defenses around. He should've used it earlier. It'll definitely block an attacker even if he attacks from all angles at once.

Just as the gap in the sphere of sand began to close, I suddenly had a strange sense of... Wrongness. I frowned as I watched Sasuke charge at the sand surrounding Gaara. Then his fist went for the closing gap which was probably the weakest point in the defends. Blood sprayed.

It turned out that Sasuke wasn't able to hit Gaara as the sand closed around him completely. Sasuke's fist was stopped by sand, the rest of his body stopes by spikes of sand that protruded from the sphere of sand. Sasuke leapt backwards to avoid getting impaled by the sand spikes, though it seemed like he already got a few cuts. His knuckles were bleeding too.

"Sensei! Stop this fight right now!" I suddenly heard Naruto shout. I looked around and spotted him with Kakashi-sensei. Ino and Sakura were sitting beside them, Lee and Gai were on the other side of Kakashi, and Shikamaru was panting behind Naruto.

"He's totally different from us! He's not normal!" Naruto continued yelling, much to the confusion of Ino. Not normal? You realize this now?

"He lives to kill others! Anyway, at this rate... Sasuke will die!" Naruto went on.

"Yes, and Sasuke will probably kill you if you stop his match," muttered Aki-chan. Yep, and if I had stopped her match with Temari, she'd probably come after me too. I proceeded to ignore Naruto. He was worried and I understood his worry... Hell, I was worried too. But there really wasn't anything to be done about it. Besides, the proctors should have the sense to stop the match if it gets too dangerous... either that or the Suna plot will take place first.

I noticed an eye of sand form above the giant sand sphere (which had begun to remind me off a cocoon), and noticed Temari's and Kankuro's fear went up a notch (their fear was rolling off them in waves that Yami-and hence, me-could sense very well) Which probably meant that Gaara was up to something within the cocoon...

"That eye thingie is cool..." Hanaha commented. "It's a pity I don't know of any plants with eyes... It could be so useful."

Thank goodness for that. A plant with mouths was creepy enough. A plant with eyes? I hope I never see one.

While I was contemplating the sand eye, plants with eyes and shadow eyes, I must have missed something because the next thing I saw, Sasuke was speeding down (since when did he get up there?) a wall, lightning concentrated in his hand in a rough sphere of electricity. The wall was getting damaged by the lightning as he ran, and there was a sound, like the chirping of a thousand birds.

As if that wasn't enough, on top of the chirping electricity and Akirai's excited comments about that lightning technique (which I was sure she didn't know about until just now), I had a demon talking about how much blood will flow out from Sasuke's head... Well, I could only hear one side of the conversation, so I don't actually know what Gaara was saying to Shukaku, but if it involves blood coming out of the Uchiha's head...

"Chii, just to let you know, your face is twitching badly," I heard Hana-chan say.

"Unsurprisingly," I muttered back at her, and continued watching the fight while trying to ignore a very annoying Shukaku.

I watched as Sasuke charged towards the giant sand cocoon, and thrust his lightning charged hand into it. Sand shot out as his hand actually broke through it's defense. Akirai started shrieking in delight and whatever she had against the Uchiha was gone as she began cheering him on. Hanaha was very amused.

Then all of a sudden, there was a yell that could only be described as chillingly bloodcurdling, "_Aaaargh! Blood..._ **_My blood!_**"

Gaara got injured. Gaara got injured. He actually got injured. My own shock was echoed in my head as Shukaku roared with pain and anger. I think everyone froze then, except Sasuke, who started trying to remove his hand from the sand cocoon.

His hand was stuck. The Uchiha tried a few times and it looked like the sand wouldn't let go of his arm. Then with a burst of chakra, he finally manage to withdraw his arm out of the cocoon... But there was sand still clinging on to his arm. And the thick sand looked suspiciously like a claw. Then when Sasuke jerked his arm out of the sand's grip, the sand that started to retreat back into the cocoon still retained that strange form. There was no doubt about it. I didn't need to hear the Sand Sibling's panic to tell that that had been Shukaku's arm.

Then the cocoon cracked and started to 'melt' and sand flowed down to reveal Gaara, who was clutching the area just below his left shoulder with his right hand. Blood was flowing from the wound and streaming down his hand. I didn't have the time to be concerned about Gaara though. Because just then, soft white feathers started to fill the air, drifting slowly down, falling before my eyes...

**Orochimaru!**Yami's shout shot through my head and the discomfort of it broke through the sleepiness that had suddenly overcome me. I straightened in alarm. Genjutsu. I turned to see Aki-chan sneezing violently, but seeming otherwise unaffected by the genjutsu. Hana-chan had just finish dispelling the genjutsu from herself.

_What did you say about the snake?_I asked Yami.

**He's the Kazekage!**Yami yelled. What...?

_Isn't the Kazekage supposed to be Gaara's father?_

**Yes, but the Kazekage sitting up there with Sarutobi isn't their father! I don't know where the real Kazekage went, but that's Orochimaru impersonating him! **

I quickly relayed the information to my teammates. We exchanged horrified glances. What now?

Suddenly, there was an explosion. Then more explosions happened. I glanced about to see smoke, ANBU people running, Gai, Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, some chuunins and jonins and the Suna nins still awake. The rest of the people were asleep.

"Please don't tell me the Sound and the Sand are in cahoots!" Aki-chan wailed. I glanced over at Temari and Kankuro who were whispering to each other.

"Looks like it. Let's get to the senseis and see what they want us to do," Hana-chan replied. So we ran down the stairs and made our way through the sleeping audience towards Gai, Kakashi and Sakura.

"Ne~! Kakashi-sensei! Gai-sensei! Pinkie! What's going on?" Aki-chan yelled as we approached them. "Should we take a nap too?"

That got her a whack on the head by Hana-chan who said, "If you wanted to sleep, you shouldn't have bothered dispelling the genjutsu then."

"But I didn't!" Aki-chan protested. Hana-chan and I faltered mid-step, then resuming our walking. She didn't?

"You didn't what?" I asked carefully.

"I didn't do the Kai thing that Kurenai-sensei taught us," she elaborated. "But maybe I dispelled in subconsciously when I sneezed? The feathers were ticklish."

Right. Trust Akirai to do stuff the weird way. At the moment, the Hokage was getting attacked by the Kazekage. Sound and Sand nins were scattered here and there. Temari and Kankuro had joined their younger brother in the arena below with Baki, and Genma was standing protectively in front of Sasuke.

"Never mind," I said to my teammates and turned to Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, what should we do now?"

"Then what are we supposed to do?! Do it without Gaara?" we suddenly heard Kankuro yell. We looked down to see Baki, Temari and Kankuro standing beside Gaara who was hunched over, clutching his head and trembling. I used Yami's hearing to pick up their softer words.

"Abort the mission. You guys take Gaara and retreat," Baki said with an expressionless face.

"What about you?" demanded Temari.

"I'll join the battle," replied Baki and stepped in front of them so that he was between Genma and them. "GO!"

And the Sand Siblings left, with Kankuro supporting Gaara. Baki and Genma faced off while Sasuke remained pretty bewildered. Then Genma said that the Chuunin Exams were over and instructed Sasuke to chase after the Sand Siblings. So he left.

"What did they say?" Hana-chan asked. I repeated what I heard to them.

"Oh! Did you know? The Pedo-Snake is impersonating the Kazekage!" Aki-chan burst out when I was done.

"That would explain the giant snakes that the plants around the village have suddenly felt," Hana-chan commented.

"Better than giant toads. I saw one the other day," Aki-chan replied. I blinked.

"That wasn't a giant toad. That was Jiraiya," I said.

"Same difference." Aki-chan shrugged. "A pedo-snake and a perv-toad... I wonder what's the third one like..."

She's the best of the three... Quite unlike the slugs she summons, Yami said as she materialized in her stray cat form, perched on my shoulder. But she likes to gamble.

"Slugs? Why do all three of the sannin summon cold-blooded creatures?" Akirai gagged. I did not bother telling her that slugs aren't actually cold-blooded.

"A barrier has been placed around the Hokage and the Snake," Hanaha said, pointing to a roof and ignoring Akirai. Since when did they get to that roof? This is going from bad to worse.

"Orochimaru?" Sakura exclaimed and the first person she thought of... "Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke was no longer in the arena when she checked. And at that moment, two Sound nins chose to attack her. Before I could do anything, the Sound nins had collapsed onto the floor, twitching. I turned to see Kakashi and Gai with their kunais out, then I saw Aki-chan's gleeful face, and I knew what must have happened.

The two Sound nins weren't the only ones around though. More were coming to attack those who were still awake (including us). My team and I exchanged glances and we went into action with Kakashi and Gai (much to their displeasure, because they thought we should just wait there quietly while they do the job).

"Kakashi-sensei!" Aki-chan yelled as she set a Sound nin on fire, and electrocuted another one. "Can you teach me the chirping lightning thing?"

"Now is not the time, Akirai!" I found myself yelling back at her in sync with Hana-chan. Yami proceeded to swallow a few nins while I sliced one with wind-edged origami. Yami wasn't the only one satisfying her hunger. Hana-chan's plants looked like they were enjoying themselves too, though some of them got destroyed before they managed to chomp on anyone's head.

"Alright, you three can stop fighting!" Kakashi suddenly barked at us. There were lesser attacking nins now and we headed back to where we had left Sakura.

"Nullify the genjutsu and wake up Naruto and Shikamaru," Kakashi told Sakura. "This is the first mission you've had in quite a while. Listen carefully, because it is an A-class mission. Track down Sasuke. Pakkun will be able help track down Sasuke's scent. Once you join up with him, stop him and take him away to a safe location."

At that, he summoned a small dog wearing a hitai-ate and a shirt. Sakura didn't seem very pleased though. Well, we weren't pleased either. Was he going to send us too, or not? Why did he tell us to stop fighting then?

"Hey, what about us?" Aki-chan demanded. Kakashi ignored us as he got into battle with another shinobi.

"I'll take that as a 'do-whatever-you-want' signal," Hana-chan said. I don't know if she was talking to us or him. Who cares?

We let Sakura wake Naruto up while we had fun with Shikamaru. The thing is, we all knew that the lazy genius couldn't have been caught by the genjutsu. So we did what we'd do to a person pretending to sleep.

"Good morning~!" Aki-chan yelled.

"Rise and shine~!" Hana-chan added.

"Shikamaru, you had better get up now or Aki-chan will think that you have died and try and restart your heart with-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence. Shikamaru bolted right up and his head collided with Akirai's because she was leaning over him.

"Oww..." muttered the both of them, rubbing their foreheads.

"Alright, now that Shika's awake, let's scram," Hanaha said and we bolted before Sakura, Shikamaru or Kakashi could stop us.

...

"There are people behind us," I commented as we darted through the forest. Yami could feel their pursuit.

"Obviously," Hanaha replied, giving me a look that beats anyone's eye-roll.

"Well yes, Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru and Pakkun are behind us..." I hastily explained. "But there are eight hostile shinobi chasing them... I think they are Sound nins... And one more... Is that Shino?"

"Probably didn't want to miss the fun," Akirai laughed. "He didn't get to play in the finals, did he?"

"None of us did, except you," Hanaha said irritably. "Though I don't think Chii minded it much."

"You know, you could just double-back and have your match with him now," Aki-chan suggested. "Chii-kun and I could go ahead without you."

Hana-chan stopped suddenly and we stopped too. Don't tell me she was seriously considering...

"Good idea," she said and turned around. "They'll probably need some help dealing with those eight pursuers."

Then she left. Aki-chan glanced at me. "She totally ignored what I said about playing with Shino-kun, didn't she?"

"It's called 'selective hearing'," I told her and we continued on our way.

...

"There are three people and one dog following us now," I informed Aki-chan. "Naruto, Sakura and Shino."

"So Hana-chan and Shika-kun, eh?" Aki-chan mused. "Well, between Hana-chan's plants and Shika-kun's shadow, the Sound guys don't stand a chance."

"What are we gonna do when we find Sasuke? ...We are going after him, aren't we?" Usually it was Hana-chan who decided these stuff. She was our unofficially leader.

"No," Aki-chan said. "No, we aren't. We are going after Kankuro, Tema-chan and Desert Boy. Then you can kick Kankuro's ass for forfeiting your match. If you don't wanna, I can do the honors of course. And I bet you want to check on your Desert Boy, right?"

Eh? She knows me too well... I did want to make sure Gaara was alright. And I hoped to stop Sasuke from fightning with them... At least until we find out what the hell was going on. I mean, yeah, the Sand betrayed us, but if Orochimaru has been posing as the Kazekage... There might be a possibility that Suna and Oto weren't in cahoots after all. I wouldn't put it past Ol' Snakey to deceive the Sand in order to attack us.

Well, in any case, the most important question now was: Where is the real Kazekage?

* * *

**Alright, that's all for now. I'll finish up the invasion in the next chapter and maybe things will get more interesting. The next update may tae awhile though, cuz school is starting next week. Anyway, please review! Criticism is always welcome if it can help me improve as an author! XD**


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